Holly Smith stacked sandbags around her doors when she saw the water rising in her yard early Sunday morning in Hauula, but nothing was going to stop the water.
"It was actually bubbling up through the termite holes, so it was up under the foundation of the house, coming in through the walls of the house," she said. "It just kept getting higher and higher."
The water rose about 13 inches inside her home, causing what she estimated to be about $100,000 in damage.
Smith said at least two other homes on her street, Pokiwai Place, and her daughter’s car were flooded.
Smith’s home was one of several Windward Oahu houses damaged by heavy rain ushered in by the remnants of Tropical Storm Wali over the weekend. The brunt of the rain fell on Windward Oahu.
Despite sunny skies Sunday, the National Weather Service said conditions are still ripe for heavy rain and thunderstorms, and extended a flash-flood watch for all main Hawaiian Islands until 6 p.m. Monday.
The weather service said moisture from the southeast will spread across the island chain, with rain most likely falling in windward and mauka areas. But flooding can occur anywhere in the state, the agency said.
Radar on Sunday night showed heavy rain falling on the windward side of Hawaii island as well as in West Maui and on the windward side of Haleakala.
On Hawaii island a lightning strike damaged equipment at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, the weather service said.
Kauai County closed the Kekaha landfill Sunday afternoon because of lightning.
By 8 a.m. Sunday the heaviest rainfall was in Windward Oahu.
More than a foot fell within 24 hours at five rain gauges, mostly on the Windward side, including at Kahana Stream, Punaluu Stream and Hakipuu near Waikane.
Parts of Maui and Hawaii island had just over 3 inches of rainfall during the same period.
On Sunday, American Red Cross volunteers fanned out along the Windward Coast, from Kahuku to Waimanalo, and also on Maui to get an initial assessment of damage, said Cathe Guptill, Red Cross spokeswoman.
Guptill said volunteers assisted one homeowner whose house was flooded in Windward Oahu.
Honolulu Fire Department Capt. David Jenkins said firefighters received 13 flood-related calls between midnight Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday.
He said firefighters had to rescue a woman and her son at about midnight after their vehicle became stuck, with water entering the vehicle, at the intersection of Waikane Valley Road and Kamehameha Highway.
Back in Hauula, Teri Maneha, who lives on Pokiwai Way, had to wade through thigh-deep water at about midnight to move her car before it became submerged.
She said the flooding seems to have gotten worse after government workers tried to improve a stream outlet on the other side of Kamehameha Highway. A device the workers installed to keep sand from clogging a drainage pipe didn’t work as planned, so the workers took the device off, leaving the pipe shorter than before and more susceptible to being clogged with sand from the beach, she said.
Smith, the Pokiwai Place resident whose house was flooded, said this was the worst flooding she’s seen since moving in about 12 years ago.
"It came off the mountain so hard and so fast that it got everybody by surprise," she said. "The water was 5 feet deep out in the middle of the street in front of my house. There was just no way to stop it."
Meanwhile, the state Clean Water Branch issued a brown-water advisory for Maui, Lanai and Molokai, advising the public to stay out of stormwater runoff due to possible overflowing cesspools, sewer manholes, pesticides, animal fecal matter, dead animals, pathogens, chemicals and associated flood debris. Turbid water runoff also has been known to attract sharks due to possible dead animals being washed into the ocean.
Also, Kawa Stream on Oahu overflowed its banks between 3 and 4 a.m. and flooded the Kaneohe sewage pump station to a depth of up to 5 feet, the state reported. The facility was evacuated, and the public was warned to stay out of Kaneohe Bay between Makani Kai Marina and the Kaneohe Yacht Club because of possible sewage pollution.
