Eddie Frias awoke yesterday at 2 a.m. and knew what he had to do to prevent flooding in his tiny neighborhood across the street from Kailua Beach Park.

With just a shovel and sheer determination, he did what people there have done for years: He unplugged the mouth of Ka'elepulu Stream with the help of three homeless people who sleep in the park, he said.

City crews regularly clear the mouth with heavy machinery, but silt from the stream always blocks it again, sometimes within days. During downpours, the stream often overflows its banks into the surrounding neighborhood.

Frias knew yesterday morning that if the stream mouth wasn't open, all the rain draining into Enchanted Lake and then flowing down Ka'elepulu Stream could end up in his yard.

"Every year, it's the same thing, if it rains like it did last night," Frias said, adding that the flooding in the adjacent park made the situation worse. "The whole park was like a stream, with water coming from the other end."

Frias said he and his helpers dug a 60-foot channel that was one shovel's width wide. Once the water started to flow through, it opened a wider and wider channel, he said.

Their efforts diverted thousands of gallons of water to the ocean, but Kawailoa Road didn't escape flooding.

When firefighters arrived at about 8:15 a.m., they found Kawailoa and the beach park under water, with water flowing into neighboring properties, said Capt. Robert Main, spokesman for the Honolulu Fire Department.

Main said debris had plugged drains in the park and on the road, and the water flowed to the lowest points. So about 24 firefighters pumped water from the beach park and from nearby lanes, then cleaned the drains to flush the area, he said.

Crews from the city Department of Facility Maintenance also were there, along with the Department of Emergency Management and the Red Cross.

Once the park started to drain properly, fire crews went to homes and lanes and pumped water from them, Main said, adding that a full inventory of the homes affected hadn't been made yet.

"We just made sure everybody was safe and uninjured," he said.

Jennifer Walter, of the Red Cross, said no one was evacuated, and her team was going door to door to assess the damage. The Red Cross delivered lunch to firefighters and residents, some of whom could not leave their homes because of flooding, Walter said.

Bruce Eguires, coordinator for the Department of Emergency Management, said 15 to 20 homes reported flooding. About 200 sandbags were laid across low spots in the park to divert water if another drenching occurred, Eguires said, adding that he was waiting for 300 more bags.

Kawailoa residents were angry about the flooding and blamed city officials for the problem, which they said has only become an issue since improvements were done at the beach park.

Marion Mullins said a trench dug in the park last year is the cause. Ever since then, water flows into her property across the street. Yesterday's flood filled her enclosed lanai but didn't enter her home. The firefighters made the difference, she said.

"It's been a disaster since that trench," Mullins said. "I got photos of it coming through that trench. It's just clearly from that, and it never did it before."

Wil Ho, Windward District park supervisor, said the park has only flooded two other times, but he declined to comment further.

A call to Bill Brennan, a city spokesman, was not returned.

Robert Thurston, who has lived in the area for 63 years, said the problem goes back further to when the city renovated the park and changed its grading.

Before the walking path was installed at the Lanikai end of the park, water from the hill collected there and would drain into the ocean. Now the area is filled in, and water collects across the street from his home and drains onto his lane of about 10 homes.

The water stopped short of entering his home yesterday, but his neighbor's yard was still awash at noon.

Thurston, who lives two lanes away from Mullins, said he's been trying to get city officials to do something for three years, and he and his neighbors are ready to hire an attorney.

"I talked to people from the parks department, and the city and county, and they all come down, they meet with me," he said. "They all tell me we are aware of the problem, but nobody will actually take care of the problem."

"Every year, it's the same thing, if it rains like it did last night. The whole park was like a stream, with water coming from the other end."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.