GARY KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Heavy rains caused some flooding yesterday at the home of Na'kala Mano along Luakini Street in Lahaina, but Mano said it was not as bad as a flood that occurred three years ago.
Poor weather closes
airports on Molokai
and LanaiFlooding in several areas of
Maui County forces evacuations
and keeps crews busy
LAHAINA, Maui >> Stormy weather caused some flooding in low-lying areas of Maui County and closed the major airports on Lanai and Molokai yesterday afternoon.
Aloha Island Air spokesman Stu Glauberman said yesterday that the airline has not had a flight into Lanai since Thursday.
Maui Civil Defense director Kyle Watanabe said he received notification at 2:30 p.m. yesterday that poor visibility caused the cancellation of flights into Lanai City.
A similar notification occurred at 3:37 p.m. for the Molokai Airport at Hoolehua, he said.
Molokai firefighter Scott Piris said visibility at the Molokai Airport was about 3 miles and "poor."
"It's pretty bad," Piris said. "I haven't seen it this bad in a while. A lot of flights were canceled, and people (are) still stranded."
On Molokai, firefighters had to put sandbags at the rear entrance of their Kaunakakai station to prevent flooding Thursday night.
Part of the ceiling of Gene and Rosie Davis' old house in Kalamaula in Central Molokai fell, forcing the family to move to an adjacent house they were building.
Gene Davis said the old house was about 70 to 75 years old and belonged to his late mother.
"This year, I was planning to knock it down," he said.
On Maui the 70-foot vessel Kaulana ran aground on the reef north of Lahaina Harbor after the mooring broke loose at about 2 p.m. Thursday, Capt. David Larsen said.
The 149-passenger vessel is used for cocktail and snorkeling cruises.
Larson said crew members helped to set anchors off the reef yesterday morning and used ropes to pull the vessel into the nearby harbor, tying it next to the ship Carthaginian.
He said although the vessel had no leaks, the rudder was damaged, and he was waiting for fair weather before a tugboat towed it for repairs to Honolulu.
In West Maui, firefighters helped a homeowner near Prison and Wainee streets in Lahaina keep water from entering a house. A pump was being used to redirect the flow of water.
On Luakini Street in Lahaina, water was rising around the home occupied by Na'kala Mano and her family, but not as much as it did about three years ago when her sons used surfboards to paddle from the house to the road.
The water was forming pools about a foot deep in portions of the property, but the house stands on stilts more than 2 feet high.
