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Rock slide shuts
road at Waimea
Two motorists escape harm
By Rod Ohira
as the mountainside above
Waimea Bay sheds debris
onto Kamehameha Hwy.
Star-BulletinTwo motorists escaped injuries early today when a chunk of the mountainside overlooking Waimea Bay fell onto Kamehameha Highway.
The landslide was reported at 12:19 a.m. Police closed both lanes of the highway to traffic until a safety assessment could be completed.
Between 15-20 cubic yards of rock and dirt along a section of Kamehameha Highway between the beach park and Sts. Peter and Paul Church was removed, said Bobby Custino of the state highway maintenance division.
Debris was spread out over 75 percent of the two-lane highway. There was a hole about 3 feet in diameter and 18 inches deep in the Kahuku-bound lane where one boulder landed.
"Fortunately, there were no injuries," police Sgt. Brad Roberts said while surveying the scene.
Two vehicles that were in the area when the slide occurred sustained minor damage, police said.
"I'm still concerned about one little part of the break," state geologist Glenn Bauer said after assessing the situation from a police helicopter.
State Transportation Department spokeswoman Marilyn Kali said Bauer reported that there are loose rocks on the mountainside that should be removed.
"He feels they need to come down, but we need to figure out how does it happen, whose property this is and what are the boundaries," Kali said, noting that the Transportation Department's jurisdiction covers only Kamehameha Highway.
The closure of the highway cut off traffic between Waimea and Haleiwa, forcing motorists to drive down to the H-3 freeway in Kaneohe to travel what would normally be a short distance.
Kahuku High & Intermediate School said only a few students and some faculty were affected.
State road crews repaved the damaged side of the roadway at 8:30 a.m. Police opened the makai-side lane, but only to emergency traffic, at about the same time.The roadway remained closed at midmorning while the safety issue was being addressed. Police will make the call as to when the roadway can be reopened, Kali said.
The rock on the roadway was a'a basalt, similar to the type that fell last Mother's Day at Sacred Falls, Bauer said.
Bauer declined to comment further on the similarities to Sacred Falls due to ongoing litigation against the state, but said he had not yet determined what caused today's slide.
"It could be anything," Bauer said. "The oldest exposed rock above sea level are the Koolaus, which is 2 1/2 million years old.
"The island is old, eroded and weathered."
