HILO >> Rain pelted the Big Island during the night and residents deluged authorities with calls, but no injuries were reported and damage remained under control, officials said. Bad weather has
cops busy on Big IslandStar-Bulletin staff
"We're bombarded," said a police dispatcher.
A lightning strike during the night blew up a propane tank in Hawaiian Paradise Park, causing a fire but no injuries, she said. The extent of the fire was not immediately available.
All roads remained open at daybreak, although landslides and fallen trees blocked some roads until crews could clear them, she said.
All regular public schools were open although some charter schools were closed, the Department of Education said.
A complete list of closed schools was not available, although it included a school in Volcano, Kamehameha Middle School in Keaau, and a Kamehameha program at Keaukaha Elementary in Hilo, Big Island Civil Defense officials said.
Earlier in the day, scattered upland areas of Kona got a light pelting of hail mixed with heavy rain.
County firefighter Eric Kunitomo said sheets of rain with thunder and lightning came and went throughout the morning at the Captain Cook Fire Station. Shortly after noon, they came again mixed with hail, pounding on the roof.
"It was loud," he said.
By the time it slacked off, Kunitomo was able to pick up a few scattered pieces of the ice a little bigger than BB pellets, he said, which soon melted.
It was not as dramatic as the time in the late 1960s when he was at Koko Head Elementary School on Oahu and hail smashed windows, he said.
Linda Bong at Bong Brothers Coffee Co. in nearby Honaunau said customers reported the pieces of ice, smaller than peas, falling in scattered places in a 7-mile stretch from Kainaliu to Honaunau.