By Barry Markowitz, special to the Star-Bulletin
Windward flooding cause stalling and
traffic jams early this morning.

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Flooding stalls
Windward traffic

Early morning rains put three
bridges out of commission

By Helen Altonn and Jaymes Song
Star-Bulletin

Water as high as 2 feet flooded Kamehameha Highway early today, stalling Windward drivers.

Water and debris pouring down from rains over the windward mountains caused streams to overflow, making bridges impassable from Kahaluu to Kualoa Park.

Roads were closed about 3:30 a.m., said Bruce Eguires, Oahu Civil Defense district coordinator. He said he hadn't seen flooding that bad in the area for years.

The rains had dwindled to a sprinkle by 10 a.m., and the road was opened with stalled cars parked along the roadside.

Lt. Vernon Kong at the Kaneohe Police Station said the road still could be closed periodically because of debris washing down.

The whole area from Waihee Road to Kualoa was affected, Kong said.

"It got pretty deep in some areas, and cars couldn't pass."

Eguires said three bridges were flooded: one over the Waiahole Valley Road, another over the Waikane Valley Road and one near Kamaha Place.

The flooding started at Waihee Road and Wailehua Road. Kamehameha Highway in that area was buried under 2 feet of water at one point.

The ocean was brown with dirt and debris from the mountains, and clouds hid the mountaintops.

Civil defense officials remained on the scene late this morning, monitoring the situation.

Tom Heffner, National Weather Service warning coordinating meteorologist, said showers anchored over the mountains caused flooding in the Waikane area between Kahaluu and Kualoa.

"The way it was described to us, one of the streams has a fairly sharp bend in it.

"Water came up over the bend and flooded the low area next to the highway, and water rose over the highway."

Heffner said the windward showers were expected to break up during the day and "the town side should be nice, just partly cloudy skies."