UPDATE (March 25): Community assistance is still filling in (at least in parts of the north shore) where the government has been slow (not surprising). A community meeting Tuesday evening had frustrations aired with the slow response (this is unfortunately the reality which is why that guide of being able to sustain yourself for at least a week). There are other areas not only on Oahu, but the other islands that haven’t had as much coverage (Maui, Molokai, Big Island Farm, Big Island highway repair)
UPDATE (March 24): Manoa flash flooding occurred on Monday afternoon (isolated pop up rain cell).
UPDATE (March 23): East end (Maui and Big Island) of the state is still being affected by heavy rain in some areas (an area of thunderstorms could affect Maui or the Big Island) while the western end has intermittent showers (several doppler radar stations are offline until at least the 24th; one on Kauai and the other on Molokai which means both Kauai and Oahu weather radar aren’t showing high resolution of the moisture). The aftermath in the north shore area is pretty bad (this report is the owner of the house that smashed into the bridge).
I have a charity fundraiser running for HFB on my Twitch account (I’ve donated separately from that but will match the first $2,500 initially if it reaches that by March 31st).
UPDATE (March 22): Parts of the east end of the state including certain areas of Molokai and Maui were still getting walloped by heavy rains and flooding this morning. Went to a food distribution event to assist (my back didn’t agree with that decision). Saw some photos from Waialua not shared on social media; the property damage is even worse when seen up close (mahalo to Waialua Community Association for carrying out a cleanup drive today).
UPDATE (March 21): Evacuation orders lifted, north shore residents are being allowed back in, damage being assessed, cleanup begins. The heavy rains are now over Maui and the Big Island (Saturday and Sunday).
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 Foods) 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 (a spokesperson for Dole Foods Hawaii 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 of considering/trying for “decades” to acquire the dam (which Dole conveniently mentioned it would be the states responsibility to fix those deficiencies once they own it — where the state may have unwisely let Dole off the hook with some of their decisions regarding dismissing the litigation when it seemed like the purchase was going to go through years ago — Dole has been an obstacle with completing this transaction over the years while doing little to properly maintain it; corporate greed + government bureaucracy at its finest = clusterf*ck).
Word to tourists; maybe don’t patronize Dole Plantation (a popular tourist attraction) on your visit (this as they say in the islands, “is not pono”; pono is the Hawaiian word that means justice, integrity and moral responsibility – basically doing the right thing which Dole Foods has not and more people should be aware of).
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.
Over 230 people were rescued (mostly in the north shore areas) from March 19-20th. 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.
The state did receive a “proactive” offer for Federal assistance and according to the governor, they’ve been in communication with response teams. Unfortunately, FEMA doesn’t operate the way it has before (given the budget cuts + incompetent loyalists that have been put in charge of these important departments) where assets would be pre-positioned and ready to go in the past. It’s been mostly neighbors, local organizations (including food banks), the national guard, state and county workers, and the coast guard that have been providing immediate assistance.
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. Just broken off tree branches to clean up unlike the mess on the north shore.
I usually donate to food banks during such disasters for food drive distributions (which I also occasionally volunteer for): Hawaii Food Bank. Their first distribution (related to this flooding) will be on March 22nd.
