CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Heavy rains on Oahu on Thursday night and yesterday morning are being blamed for several problems around the island. Charlotte Higa stood yesterday near a boulder that nearly hit her home in Waialae Nui.
After a 26-year-old Nuuanu woman was killed in August by a 6-ton boulder that crashed into her bedroom, Charlotte Higa worried the same thing could happen to her in Waialae Nui. Three islands see flooding,
power failures and even
a falling boulderBy Nelson Daranciang
ndaranciang@starbulletin.comIt almost did yesterday.
About 7:30 a.m. a 4-by-3-foot boulder rumbled down the hillside behind Higa's home at 5385 Malu Place and landed 20 feet from her bedroom. She was not home at the time.
The falling boulder, flooding and power failures occurred yesterday after heavy rains fell on Oahu on Thursday night and early yesterday. Oahu had an average of 1 to 2 inches of rain over a 24-hour period ending at 8 last night, according to National Weather Service officials.
Hawaiian Electric Co. officials are investigating if weather was also to blame for knocking out power for three college and high school sporting events at the University of Hawaii campus in Manoa.
HECO officials said the power went down at 7:43 p.m. but was restored a little more than an hour later. The outage affected about 5,500 customers in the Manoa, Kapahulu and Diamond Head areas.
Rains also soaked Maui and the Big Island, closing two parks and an intermediate school on Maui. A wind advisory for gusts of up to 30 to 40 mph was still in effect on Maui after one for Oahu had been canceled at 6 p.m.
Maui County closed H.A. Baldwin Beach Park and Kanaha Beach Park in Central Maui because of flooding. Iao Intermediate School was shut because of flooding in the cafeteria, library and offices.
School Principal Catherine Kilborn said construction mauka of the school along with a new driveway contributed to the problem. Kilborn said the water was 3 to 4 inches deep in some areas, but damage was minor.
Weather forecasters said while Oahu should see clear skies today, the bad weather may continue through tonight on Maui and tomorrow on the Big Island.
"The shear line has passed the Big Island, but we're going to have clouds and showers linger," said National Weather Service lead forecaster Jeff Powell. "Oahu should be clear except for a few isolated showers on the Windward side.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
University of Hawaii baseball players milled about in near darkness last night after a power failure at Murakami Stadium delayed the team's game against Sacramento State.
"At least the rest of the island doesn't have to suffer."
At Waialae Nui on Oahu, Higa's neighbor, Kevin Kugiyama, said he woke up about 7:30 a.m. to close his bedroom window when he heard "a thumping, galloping noise."
When he looked out of his window, he said he saw the boulder bounding about halfway down the hillside heading toward him. When the boulder reached the bottom of the hill across the street, "it hit and went up into the air about 15 feet," Kugiyama said.
"I was thinking, Go to the right, go to the right, don't hit the house."
The boulder veered to the right away from Kugiyama's home, went over the front of his brother-in-law's car parked on the near side of the street, landed on a fire hydrant next to the car and came to rest on a retaining wall above Higa's back yard.
Higa said he was stunned but called 911 just as the boulder hit the bottom of the hill.
Kugiyama thought the boulder had hit the car, but when he ran outside, he found that it had missed.
The broken hydrant sent water shooting into the air. The boulder also cracked the sidewalk next to the hydrant, broke some branches off Higa's pomelo tree and left craters on the roadway and opposite sidewalk.
Higa had already left to take her grandchildren to school and later went to have coffee with a friend. When she returned about 9:30 a.m., fire officials had already turned off the water to the hydrant, and a city road crew was getting ready to remove the boulder from her property.
Higa declined an offer to keep the boulder, fearing it might cause her retaining wall to give way. The city crew removed the boulder and placed it in the back of the valley at the end of Kilauea Avenue.
Higa said this is the first time a boulder rolled down the hill in the 40 years she has lived in Waialae Nui. But she is considering moving.
Kamehameha Schools, which owns property on Kahala ridge above Waialae Nui, sent a land manager and risk assessor to examine the boulder and the site.
On Aug. 9, Dara Rei Onishi was killed as she slept in her bedroom when a boulder crashed into her parents' Henry Street home. In November a boulder crashed into two parked cars and caused the eventual evacuation of 26 units at the Lalea condominium development in Hawaii Kai.
Star-Bulletin reporters Rod Antone and Gary T. Kubota contributed to this report.
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Work is scheduled to begin this month to secure the hillside above Lalea, the Hawaii Kai subdivision where a falling boulder in November led to the evacuation of 26 units. Hawaii Kai project
will guard against
rockfallsStar-Bulletin staff
The two-phase project, estimated to cost between $3 million and $5 million, will begin once city and state permits are obtained, according to an agreement reached between landowner Kamehameha Schools, developer Castle & Cooke Hawaii and the Association of Apartment Owners of Lalea.
In the first phase, workers will expand an existing ditch makai of buildings 7130 and 7168. The catchment ditch -- slated to be 3 feet deep and 20 feet wide -- will be constructed to deal with any potential rockfalls in the area, said Kamehameha Schools spokesman Kekoa Paulson.
The first phase is expected to be completed in three months.
The second phase will be the installation of cable netting along the hillside. The installation is expected take six months, Paulson said.
On Dec. 6, residents of 26 units in buildings 7130 and 7168 were advised to immediately evacuate because of the risk of more falling boulders.
