Boulder stuns Aiea homeowners
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
A large boulder crashed through Tyler Ramelb’s home Wednesday morning at 98-463 Pono St. The rock the size of a washing machine demolished a concrete wall and landed in a bedroom, about a foot away from the bed that Ramelb and his wife were sleeping in.
A boulder the size of a washing machine crashed into an Aiea home, about a foot away from a bed where a couple was sleeping early Wednesday.
“I was kind of frozen,” Aiea homeowner Tyler Ramelb said as he recalled waking up to the sight of the boulder in his bedroom. “I couldn’t move. I was that much in shock.”
“No words can really describe how close of a call this was,” he said.
Honolulu firefighters responded to the home in the 98-400 block of Pono Street at about 2:05 a.m. Wednesday after the boulder — approximately 3 to 4 feet in diameter — crashed into the bedroom. No injuries were reported.
Ramelb recalled that he and his wife were sleeping when they heard what sounded like an explosion. “It was a loud boom,” he said.
The boulder apparently struck a cinder block retaining wall in their backyard before it crashed into the home. Broken pieces of cinder block were seen strewn on the patio.
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The Ramelbs bought the home that abuts a hill four years ago.
Tyler Ramelb had moved to Oahu from Kauai and rented a residence in Salt Lake and Aiea Heights before he and his wife bought the Pono Street home.
It’s unclear which property the boulder came from. “This never happened before so I’m kind of freaking out at this point,” Ramelb said.
The homeowner is trying to figure out what may have caused the boulder to fall.
Heavy rain had drenched Oahu over the past weekend.
Ramelb also recalled lots of water flowing down the hillside into his backyard Jan. 13 and 27. A video he took Jan. 13 showed water gushing from a large drainage pipe near a reservoir on government property located atop the hillside.
Ramelb had reported the issue to the Honolulu Board of Water Supply.
It’s unclear at this time whether the water flow from the drainage pipe contributed to the boulder incident.
A team from the Board of Water Supply conducted an assessment of the city property and visited Ramelb’s property Wednesday.
Board spokeswoman Kathleen Pahinui said they are looking into the location of where the boulder came from and the source of the water flow. “We’re not sure where the water is coming from,” she said.
Pahinui also said they don’t know what property the boulder came from.
Pahinui noted there is a property located between Ramelb’s property and the city property.
