Drenched
isles mop upSOGGY: Schools on Molokai and parts of the Big Isle remain closed
FORECAST: The worst is probably over after 2 days of heavy rain
By Helen Altonn Most of Hawaii was drying off today from a torrential downpour, but rains continued to drench some Big Island areas and more showers may be headed toward the Islands.
haltonn@starbulletin.com"Right now, we're in a lull," said National Weather Forecaster Brad Fujii, reporting a few isolated showers about 75 miles south of Kauai and Oahu.
Although they're moving this way, he said, "By the time they get here, they may be in such a weakened state that we might not see as much (rain) as anticipated."
Rains that soaked the state the past two days tapered off today except for the south part of the Big Island, Fujii said.
All Molokai schools were closed, with buses and teachers unable to get to schools because of the condition of the roads, said Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen.On the Big Island, the co-located Kau High and Pahala Elementary Schools and Naalehu Elementary and Intermediate Schools were closed because of continuing rains.
Downed power lines, blown rooftops and soaked telephone cables occurred statewide after the storm began Monday night.
But the total rainfall for the year still isn't even half of the normal Honolulu annual rainfall of about 17.9 inches, Fujii said. So far this year, it is 8.4 inches, but that is above last year's 5.8 inches at this time last year, he said.
Power outages affected about 6,000 Kailua-Aikahe-Mokapu residents from 5:26 to 7:20 p.m. yesterday and about 9,000 Kaneohe-Waihee residents from 7:50 to 8:25 p.m.
HECO spokesman Fred Kobashikawa said the high winds and heavy rains caused problems with electrical equipment. In some cases residents had momentary outages when flying debris or branches blew into power lines, he said.
On the Big Island, a Hawaii Electric Light Co. spokesman said about 9,300 households throughout the island lost power at some point during the day. Most interruptions were short-lived, and with the exception of isolated pockets in Puna and on the Hamakua Coast, service has been restored.Gusts up to 45 to 50 mph were estimated during the height of the storm.
Sophie Kauhi, who has lived across Kalanianaole Highway from Waimanalo Beach Park since the 1940s and said she never heard the wind blow like it did early yesterday morning.
"It was whistling," she said, and even with all the windows closed, it still seemed to be coming through the three-bedroom house at 41-202 Ala Koa that she shares with six family members.
About 12:30 a.m., her house's galvanized metal roof started ripping off in pieces and rain poured in. Most of the roof flew onto her sister Eleanor's house next door, damaging it before sliding down to rest in the muddy yard.
Nearby Sea Life Park and the Oceanic Institute both had portions of roofs blow off and were without power from 3 p.m. Monday to 9 a.m. yesterday.
"I've been with this park more than four years and this is the first time we've ever had to close," said Sea Life Park General Manager Wayne Nielsen."We've been hit very hard with torrential rains and some very high winds. We've spend the last 12 hours doing nothing but clean up in the rain." Workers were cleaning since 1 a.m.
The park expected to be open today, Nielsen said.
Oceanic Institute engineering director James Muratsuchi estimated damage there at about $50,000 to existing buildings, plus significant damage to three new buildings.
Telephone service was restored to 1,800 phone lines in East Oahu this morning by crews working through the night, said Ann Nishida, Verizon Hawaii spokeswoman.
She said some Aiea areas were still without service or experiencing heavy static or sporadic service because of water in the lines.
"If it continues to rain, our cables are still going to be a problem," she said. "The manholes get full of water and in turn leak into our cable vaults under the street. Sometimes they short out if they're wet for a period of time."
Underground moisture is also being blamed for flames that shot through a manhole cover at Cooke Street and Kapiolani Boulevard last night, just one of many emergency calls that kept Hawaiian Electric crews busy.Kobashikawa said 20 to 25 trucks were out yesterday restoring power to areas where electricity had been cut off. Normally during peak trouble hours in the morning, he said only three trucks are out.
Honolulu firefighters responded to 10 reports of flooding between midnight and 4:30 p.m. yesterday. The Kaimuki Ben Franklin Crafts store was the worst, said fire Capt. Richard Soo.
"We walked into squish, squish," said store manager Jenny Bowling, who showed up at work at 6:45 a.m. to find 5 inches of water covering the store floor."But then about 9 o'clock we got another downpour," Bowling said. "Everything we had tried to sweep up, the whole floor got flooded at that point."
The store, which was supposed to open at 9 a.m., yesterday opened a little before 2 p.m.
The heaviest rainfall on the Big Island was at Kapapala Ranch, where 8.2 inches of rain fell in the 12-hour period between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m., according to Tim Craig, National Weather Service meteorologist. The 5,000-acre ranch is located just west of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
As a safety precaution, classes at the Volcano Charter School of Arts and Sciences, located inside the park, were suspended after lunch and parents called to pick up their children.
During the same 12-hour period, 5.54 inches of rain fell on the town of Glenwood and almost 3 inches at Hilo Airport.
On Maui, traffic was slowed between Kahului and Lahaina yesterday afternoon as debris was cleared from Honoapiilani Highway at the Lahaina pali.
Several boats were aground in Lahaina, including the 65-foot sailing vessel Rennie Hannah of Lahaina.
The vessel was on the reef about 350 yards from the shoreline fronting Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant. The catamaran Paragon was brought overnight from the reef onto the sandy shoreline fronting 505 Front Street Shops & Restaurants. The Coast Guard said it still did not know the whereabouts of the 40-foot catamaran Zypper which was moored off Kaanapali.
Star-Bulletin reporters Rod Antone, Nelson
Daranciang, Diana Leone, Gary T. Kubota
and Peter Serafin contributed to this report.