Enormous amounts of rainfall in a short period of time across the islands caused life-threatening situations and damage Tuesday, including flooding that prompted the evacuation of Haleiwa residents on Oahu’s North Shore, the search for a person reportedly spotted in a Pearl City stream and the rescue of a man whose truck was swept down Waikele Stream.
Honolulu police and firefighters helped evacuate Haleiwa town in advance of the coming deluge, which some residents said they cannot recall ever happening.
The Honolulu Fire Department responded to 20 weather-related calls from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, including 16 calls to pump out water, a fallen tree, a fallen power line and two swift-water rescues.
HFD on Tuesday night rescued a 27-year-old man who was found standing on the roof of his truck, which had gone downstream 100 yards in Waikele Stream from an area near Waikele Self-Storage.
In Pearl City the Honolulu Fire Department had 26 personnel and a fire helicopter searching for a small-framed person of unknown gender who was reportedly seen by one individual entering Waihona Stream near Leeward Community College just before 4:30 p.m. The search was suspended at 7:39 p.m. due to darkness.
Gov. David Ige on Tuesday signed an emergency declaration that will free up state funds to help those across the state hit by the heavy rainfall and flooding, including damage to bridges and roadways on Maui including Peahi Bridge, which was completely washed out.
The National Weather Service reported a sharp rise in Opaeula Stream at 1 p.m. Tuesday, and a flood gauge topped out at 16 feet in the Koolaus, 4 feet higher than the 12.2-foot flood level for that stream.
The information was sent to the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management, which ordered the evacuation of Haleiwa town due to “catastrophic flooding.” Flooding there is not unprecedented, but hasn’t occurred in a while, said National Weather Service lead forecaster Tom Birchard.
Birchard expressed amazement as he read that the Poamoho Rain Gauge No. 1 measured 16.58 inches in 12 hours, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and, more impressively, 13.34 inches in six hours. Others from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. include Kahana with more than 11 inches of rain and Waihee Pump nearby with 8.64 inches.
“That’s why we saw the flooding and rapid rise in water at Opaeula Stream,” he said. “That’s one of the most rapid rises we’ve seen in that stream and led to the immediate issuance of the warning.”
“All that water has to go somewhere. Some of the drainage basins aren’t all that big, so they fill up pretty quickly and send a flood wave down the slope.”
Heavy rain in the Haleiwa area had stopped by around 5 p.m. Tuesday, but by then there was severe flooding of homes, roads and gas stations.
The Opaeula Stream bridge at Haleiwa Road was inundated by several feet of water Tuesday afternoon.
The parking lot at one of the North Shore’s designated evacuation sites, Waialua High School, was filled with more than 30 vehicles Tuesday afternoon after the city sent out an evacuation alert.
Some of the evacuees were in areas near the shoreline of the two streams — Paukauila and Kaukonahua — that feed into Kaiaka Bay.
Some headed to the school because rain and rising river levels threatened to flood the three bridges that cross the streams.
Jay Rosser, who lives near Haleiwa Elementary School and was at Waialua High School with his wife and two kids, was on his way to the high school but had to return home to get supplies.
He crossed two bridges over the streams twice and noticed the water level “was coming up. There was a noticeable difference from the first time and the second time,” he said, but he estimated there was still plenty of clearance — about 10 to 15 feet — below the bridge.
Tuesday was his son’s birthday, but in their rush Rosser said the family had to leave their house while his cake was still in the oven at home.
Rosser’s home wasn’t flooding when he left. Neither was Chris Polster’s, who decided to play it safe.
Polster, who teaches eighth grade English at Wahiawa Elementary School, and Connie Hatton, his landlady, live at Kukea Circle, which sits just feet from the beach and about a quarter-mile from Kaukonahua Stream.
He said police drove by with megaphones, telling residents to evacuate.
Hatton has lived in the area for 50 years, and this is the first time a possible flood has forced her out of her home.
“Two times I have evacuated during tsunamis, but for flooding this is the first time,” she said.
Although dozens had come to the school to reach higher ground, some of the evacuees knew people who decided to ignore the evacuation alert and stay home.
There was still no sign of rain at 8 p.m., and by then more than half the vehicles at Waialua High School had left.
The Honolulu Fire Department was sent to the Haleiwa Senior Citizen Center on Paalaa Street to help, but the manager told HFD that the occupants could be moved to upper floors if necessary.
Birchard said an upper-atmosphere disturbance “was practically stationary, sitting just west of the islands, setting the stage for heavy rainfall to develop.” Meanwhile, “a surge of moisture from the southeast” came up, and “the two interacted, providing the large-scale instability.”
A flash flood warning on Oahu was renewed several times throughout the day and night.
On Kauai, Kuhio Highway remained closed at Hanalei Bridge, and homes on Alamihi Road in Wainiha were flooded.
A landslide blocked a lane of Pali Highway before 1 p.m.
Waiahole Stream overflowed its banks and the bridge had been closed.
A general manager at the Waiahole Poi Factory said the shop had flooded with 2 feet of water.
But Hawaii is not in the clear.
A flash flood watch is in effect for all islands until 6 p.m. today.
“Conditions are overall ripe. We don’t know where it might bubble up, but the potential exists everywhere,” Birchard said.
There was heavy flooding at Haleiwa Road near the Waialua Beach Road intersection, which was closed off.
One man crossed the flooded section in a canoe, carrying his dog to dry land.
Kamehameha Highway, entering Haleiwa by crossing Opaeula Stream, is closed.
At 9:30 p.m. Tuesday residents at both locations were waiting for police to open the roads so they could return home.
The emergency declaration encompasses the entire state, gives the governor authority to spend state funds to protect residents and visitors, and supports the state’s efforts to provide quick and efficient relief from the suffering, damage and losses caused by flooding and other effects of heavy rain.
