Portions of the island of O’ahu (Hawai’i) were hit with heavy rains and flash flooding as a second Kona storm system began drenching the state on March 19th. Some of the heaviest rains occurred overnight (through Friday morning) when the evacuation notices and civil defense sirens were sounded (some residents in the area mentioned they didn’t hear those go off).
Last week, the islands were pummeled by a Kona low (a large low pressure system that develops to the north of the island chain and draws up moisture from the south resulting in rain bands and thunderstorms that can bring damaging wind and rains). With the ground already saturated from that prior storm, this second Kona low (which began dropping rain again on Thursday) has been causing severe flash flooding in various parts of the island; the north shore area around Waialua (especially an old style plantation area known as Otake Camp) and Haleiwa has encountered major flooding due to heavy rain cells passing over the area.
Wahiawa Reservoir (an earthen dam owned by Dole) was also in danger of over topping leading to concerns that once that occurred, could cause erosion and collapse the rest of the dam (residents of the areas like Waialua and Haleiwa town that were down slope were advised to be ready to evacuate). Fortunately the rains subsided allowing the water levels to drop (Dole reassured the structural integrity of the dam remains intact).
The dam does have a concrete spillway area that allows water to empty out into a nearby stream (which is part of the heavy water flow residents are seeing in that stream). The spillway however has been flagged by state officials as not being in compliance with current safety standards while Dole has said they do not have the money to make those improvements (in spite of record profits and dividend payouts to shareholders).
The article notes that the state has been in the process for “decades” to acquire the dam (which Dole conveniently mentioned it would be the states responsibility to fix those deficiencies once they own it; corporate greed + government bureaucracy at its finest = clusterf*ck). Word to tourists; maybe don’t patronize Dole Plantation on your visit.
East Honolulu (especially the neighborhood of Kaimuki not far from Waikiki), saw rivers of water flooding the area in just minutes after a huge downpour while parts of the Ala Wai Canal near Waikiki, was close to topping its banks in the late afternoon. Portions of the nearby Ala Wai Golf Course was flooded.
Early estimates have pegged damages at around $1 billion (that is expected to climb once the system passes and the areas can be assessed in better detail) with the island of Oahu taking the brunt of this damage as of Friday evening (most of the front moved to Maui county by Friday evening). The entire state remains under a flash flood watch until Sunday afternoon while the summit areas above 12,000 feet/3658 meters of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea are under a winter storm watch.
NOTE: For last weeks system, my location was often times in between the heavy bands (avoiding the bulk of the heaviest rains) but last night, it was torrential rains that lasted throughout today.
