KA'A'AWA — The sun peeked out for several hours over O'ahu yesterday, but floods, slides and cleaning up after them had many people stuck in the same routine they've been in for the past five weeks.

In Ka'a'awa, city crews gave up their holiday to pump water off a road and drainage ditch. State workers cleared a culvert. Firefighters drained water from a resident's home.

For one Ka'a'awa resident, the weather was especially frustrating after a neighbor blocked the usual flow of water from her yard through his lot.

Firefighters were called to relieve the resulting flooding in the backyard of DeeDee Letts on Kekio Road, where water ponded as high as 16 inches at one point, submerging the wooden posts that support her home.

Letts said that while flooding is common in the neighborhood, it has never been so bad and she blamed the sandbags placed by her neighbor near their common property line.

"I understand their frustration," Letts said. "They're flooded, too. Everybody is frustrated."

Ric Padeken, Letts' neighbor, said he placed the sandbags to protect his property. Storm runoff from neighboring properties has been running into his yard for 25 to 30 years, he said, and often includes sewage from overflowing cesspools and trash. Padeken's yard also was filled with standing water yesterday.

"Our property can't handle it anymore," he said. "Enough is enough."

Padeken said there was a time when Ka'a'awa had a series of ditches that carried rainwater away from homes, but he said new owners and builders have filled in the ditches, forcing the water to find its own path.

The worst part of the flooding is the water that goes into the school, taking with it the raw sewage from neighboring cesspools, he said, adding that water from the school also runs onto his property. Children play in that water and many develop sores, he said.

A drive through the back streets of Ka'a'awa yesterday revealed more than a dozen homes with ponding or flooded yards. On Kekio Road, a city crew was pumping water from the road a block away from Letts' home.

Cesspools in the area were overflowing and warning signs were posted. That didn't stop children, home on spring break, from riding their bicycles through it.

On Hauhele Road, the home of Evelyn Padeken, Ric Padeken's aunt, was surrounded by water and so were two of her neighbors' homes. Padeken said she has been flooded three times since the rainy spell began. She has to park her car on the road and worries that her cesspool will overflow and back up.

Flooding is getting worse, she said, and she blames people who build walls that block the flow of water.

"If people live here they cannot build stone wall because it's going clog up," said Padeken, 77, and a resident of Ka'a'awa for 40 years. "Their place not going have (flooding) but the water not going through. We no more chance."

The city sent a worker to start three pumps near Padeken's home. The pumps were draining water behind her home, and O'ahu Civil Defense volunteer Joseph Krugler said it would relieve some of the pressure from Padeken's lot. Once the pumps were going, he and other volunteers would man them. Krugler said he expected to be there for 24 hours.

"We'll baby-sit the pumps," he said. "If they go off, we'll try to restart them. If we can't, I have a number to call."

Also yesterday, a state crew was clearing a culvert near Kualoa Ranch, closing one lane to do the work. Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said five overseas flights from Kaua'i had to come to Honolulu to refuel when the Tesoro fuel station on Kaua'i shut down because of a power outage. Four of the flights were diverted Sunday and one yesterday, Ishikawa said, adding that Tesoro regained power yesterday.

State Civil Defense said there was no reports of problems, and O'ahu Civil Defense couldn't be reached for comments although volunteers were out in the community yesterday.

Amy Ray, a Wheeler Air Force Base resident, said her community on Wiliwili Circle was without water for 29 hours over the weekend. Emergency water was delivered 14 hours after a tree had uprooted and broken the water main about 9 a.m. Saturday, Ray said. She bought baby wipes so her children could clean up after a wrestling competition, she said.

"We put trash cans out in the yard to catch rain so we could fill up the toilets to flush them," Ray said. Water was restored Sunday at 1 p.m., she said.

Flood cleanup begins anew

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.