CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Adrian Dela Cruz cleared rocks that fell yesterday afternoon on Farrington Highway near Makua Cave.
Heavy rains cause
Oahu mudslidesFirefighters rescue a man from
a swollen canal in Pearl City
The accumulation of nearly a week of rain caused rockslides and mudslides around Oahu yesterday, while a weather system lingering over the state dumped the heaviest rain on Maui County.
State Department of Transportation road crews cleared rocks and small boulders that fell on Farrington Highway near Makua Cave and on the roadway on the other side of Makua Valley toward Kaena Point about 2 p.m. More rocks and boulders fell about 3:20 p.m.
A city road crew went to Makiki Heights Drive to remove a tree that fell on the roadway near the intersection with Mott-Smith Drive about 2:40 p.m. The tree had dragged down some power lines but did not cause a power outage, said Jose Dizon, Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman.
Another city crew was sent to Diamond Head, where rocks had fallen onto Diamond Head Road near the lighthouse about 2:48 p.m. Police closed the mauka lane and used the makai lane for contraflow traffic. Even after the crew cleared the debris, the lane remained closed until an official from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources could examine a boulder that appeared to be in a precarious position on the cliff above the roadway, police said.
Before 5 p.m., mud washed onto Kaneohe Bay Drive at Hako Street near the Kaneohe Yacht Club. Kailua police closed the mauka lane and used the makai lane for contraflow traffic.
Firefighters pulled a 43-year-old man from a canal in Pearl City about 10:40 a.m. The man told rescuers he could not remember how he got in the canal or how long he had been there, said Capt. Kenison Tejada, Honolulu Fire Department spokesman.
Tejada said between 6 and 8 inches of water was flowing in the canal at the time.
The man was taken to the Queen's Medical Center in serious condition and may have suffered from hypothermia, city ambulance officials said.
In the 24-hour period that ended at 5 p.m. yesterday, more than 2 inches of rain fell on parts of Oahu, according to the National Weather Service. The most, 2.18 inches, fell at Schofield Barracks.
"We've been getting rain over the past four or five days off and on with not much evaporation," said Hans Rosendal, the weather service's lead forecaster.
The rain was expected to lighten today, according to the Weather Service, though occasional showers are expected through the weekend.
On Maui, Lanai and Molokai yesterday, between 2 and 4 inches of rain fell in just three hours yesterday, forcing the weather service to issue an urban and small-stream flood advisory for Maui county at 12:30 p.m. and a flash flood warning for West Maui, Lanai and Molokai at 1:45 p.m.
The flood advisory and flash flood warning were later lifted for most of Maui County when the rains subsided later in the afternoon.
The flood advisory remained in effect for Molokai as a line of showers lingered over the island, Rosendal said.
He said the rains are expected to move over the Big Island, then return to Oahu either tomorrow or Sunday.
The most rain in the state was reported at the consistently soaked summit of Mount Waialeale on Kauai, which received more than 9 inches.
