Heavy rain heaps
trouble on Likelike
Police closed the Kaneohe-bound lanes of Likelike Highway twice yesterday because of two traffic accidents just outside the Windward side of the tunnel.
Police attribute the accidents to slick roads caused by heavy rain.
The tunnel was first closed about noon yesterday after a van flipped over, pinning the driver, a 76-year-old Kaneohe man. Firefighters cut the van open to free the driver, who was taken by ambulance to the Queen's Medical Center in serious condition.
Motorists were turned back at Kula Kolea Drive. Police reopened the tunnel about 1 p.m. but were forced to close it 20 minutes later after another accident just outside the tunnel.
State Department of Transportation road crews who were still on the scene said the second vehicle that crashed was sliding as it exited the tunnel. The driver was not injured.
The tunnel was reopened about 2 p.m. Police said they were forced to close the tunnel the second time because the accident spilled oil on the already slick roadway.
The National Weather Service said 2.2 inches of rain fell at Wilson Tunnel in the 24-hour period that ended at 2 p.m. yesterday. That was the highest rainfall on Oahu. The average rainfall at the tunnel for the month of July is 7.5 inches.
The heavy rains are due to a low-pressure system near the islands and a lack of tradewinds, said Roy Matsuda, National Weather Service lead forecaster.
Warm, moist air over land is pulled to the upper atmosphere by the low-pressure system where it cools and releases the moisture as rain back onto the island because of a lack of tradewinds, Matsuda said.
He said the conditions are expected to continue today and tomorrow with most of the rain falling in the afternoon.
Most of the rain was falling on the Windward side of the island, with the heaviest rainfall at the base of the mountains.
Matsuda said the conditions are the same on the Big Island, which experienced heavy rains and some thundershowers.
The weather service recorded 4 inches of rain in Pahoa overnight Thursday. Maui saw only an about an inch of rain, and Kauai recorded one-tenth of an inch. Molokai received no rain.
