[ OUR OPINION ]
City, state should examine
flood control design
and upkeep
|
As damage estimates tick higher and costs for restoring the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus swell into the millions, a survey of the area's drainage design and maintenance is in order. Recent flooding, like that in the Mapunapuna district last year, also indicate that state and city officials should increase inspections and clearing of all streams and water channels to reduce the likelihood of storm overflow.
Almost 150 homes and dozens of buildings on the UH campus were damaged Halloween eve when nearly nine inches of rain fell in about six hours, causing Manoa Stream to overflow and spill into roads along its path and tributaries. Although no one was hurt, there were some close calls. A woman and her child were rescued by neighbors as water surged around their stalled car. Twenty students and a professor escaped a flooding basement classroom by breaking a window.
Residents, after scraping mud and debris from their homes, are seeking assistance after Governor Lingle declared Manoa a disaster area last week. Estimates of damage have yet to be determined, but it is expected to run into the millions.
Meanwhile, the university has had to hire a disaster recovery company to clean up a devastated campus with Hamilton Library, the Biomedical Sciences building, a laboratory and agriculture science center suffering the most. Cost for the restoration is expected to reach $5 million.
At the library, millions of dollars in valuable books, rare maps and historical collections may have been lost to the flood. Key laboratories, including the Institute for Biogenesis Research, where famed mouse-clone researcher Ryuzo Yanagimachi does his work, were affected.
The importance of the university, which draws in tens of millions of dollars in research grants, demands that its facilities be safeguarded. Equally, businesses in Mapunapuna and other enterprises such as the Manoa Innovation Center cannot flourish if not ensured of safety.
Further, it is of no comfort to taxpayers when city and state entities point to each other as responsible for inspecting and clearing debris, silt and other material from drainages as happened after Mapunapuna flooded last year.
The problems aren't new and aren't unanticipated. Officials offer the excuse that limited staff and money prevent routine maintenance of drainage and flood control channels. They should recognize that such funds are a pittance compared to the amounts businesses lose and the money that needs to be spent post-disaster.
Officials should not gamble that 50-year storms will really occur at those intervals. Forecasts of heavy rain this weekend were dispelled by sunny skies Saturday, but nature has its own temperament and humans would do well to mind its mercurial tendencies and be ready for its worst.
