DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
A State Department of Transportation worker looked at work being done yesterday to fix a sinkhole on the Honolulu-bound lanes of Likelike Highway.
Picking up the pieces
Road crews and residents
clean up after a storm that
may have killed a little girl
A storm that could still dump more rain on the state today opened up a large sinkhole in the Likelike Highway and may be responsible for the death of a 5-year-old girl.
In addition, civil defense authorities have cordoned off beaches on Oahu's North Shore because of high surf that is hampering the search for a missing female Schofield Barracks soldier who was apparently swept out to sea at Waimea Bay just before midnight Friday. Another missing person, a male tourist from England last seen swimming at a North Shore beach Wednesday, is also still missing.
The girl, the child of a Pearl Harbor sailor, apparently drowned in a rainwater runoff basin near her home on the Pearl City Peninsula.
She had been reported missing earlier yesterday morning and was found submerged and unconscious by neighbors and emergency personnel at about 11 a.m. They attempted to revive her but could not, said Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis.
Meanwhile, as sunshine returned to Oahu yesterday, crews were continuing to try and fill a sinkhole in the Honolulu-bound lanes of the Likelike Highway.
The sinkhole, about 15 feet wide and 20 feet deep, opened up early yesterday morning. The sinkhole apparently was caused by a blocked drainage culvert under the highway, said Grace Pacific employee Robert Abila, whose company will repave the road surface when the hole has been filled.
The Honolulu-bound lanes of the highway are closed between Kaneohe and Kalihi Valley. Traffic is being diverted to the H-3 Freeway.
Contractor Royal Construction is doing the emergency work to fill the sinkhole with rocks and dirt and replace a washed-away drainage ditch that ran under the highway, said state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa.
The highway is expected to be reopened by rush hour tomorrow morning, but heavy rain today could delay repairs, Ishikawa said.
The weather service said rain is still a possibility today.
Unstable, moist air "spinning" above Kauai could cause locally heavy thundershowers anywhere in the Hawaiian Islands, National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Farrell said yesterday.
The chance of rain today is 20 to 30 percent and a flash flood watch will remain in effect for all islands through today, he said.
So far this month, nine inches of rain has fallen at Honolulu Airport, compared to normal rainfall of about 2.35 inches. So far this year, 15.88 inches has fallen, three times the normal rainfall of 5.08 inches.
Downstream from the Likelike Highway, on Kalihi Street and Ahuahu Place, friends and neighbors were helping residents inundated by water and mud Friday to clean up yesterday.
Cars, debris, rocks and potted plants were washed downhill by what residents described as a "river" of water that flowed down Ahuahu Place.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Friends and relatives of Peter and Sharon Cabrera helped yesterday to free their van stuck in mud on Ahuahu Place. They eventually dug the van out and pushed it onto the driveway. Below, Roberto Viloria (front) and Troy Montayre help haul sand bags.
Vic Bajarin said when he looked at the dirt and rocks piled in front of his house at 3265 Kalihi St. yesterday morning, he "didn't know where to begin."
Help arrived in the form of five assistant coaches for the 12-and-under girls softball team he coaches -- the Hurricanes.
Two of the fathers, Gino Soquena and Raymond Pauline, borrowed a backhoe and dumptruck from their employer, Grace Pacific, to help them remove about 20 tons of dirt and rock from the driveway Bajarin shares with four other houses.
"I give all my blessing to my coaching staff," Bajarin said yesterday. "They came out of their own good will."
Up the hill at Sharon and Peter Cabrera's house, 1934 Ahuahu Place, friends and relatives were using boards and rocks to maneuver a van out of their yard.
Rushing water also damaged the Cabreras' floors and furniture, and washed out their whole sideyard, said Sharon Cabrera.
The Hawaii Red Cross assisted several families affected by flooding on Ahuahu Place and Kalihi Street and provided overnight shelter for 40 people on the Waianae Coast and North Shore Friday.
A damaged water pump that may have broken because of the weather is affecting Haleiwa, Pupukea and Waialua residents.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
An exhausted Dennis Shigemura contemplated what happened to his home and belongings damaged by mud and debris on Kalihi Street.
The Board of Water Supply is asking those residents to conserve water this weekend.
Residents with no water or low water pressure can call 748-5010 to request water from a water truck today.
Also on the North Shore, the search for a Schofield soldier swept to sea at Waimea Bay shortly before midnight Friday was expected to resume today.
The woman was one of six soldiers who were swept into the ocean by high waves. The other soldiers were able to swim ashore. The missing woman's name is being withheld, pending notification of relatives.
Two helicopters and a shore-based rescue team searched for her from dawn to dusk yesterday, said Honolulu Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada.
A high surf warning remains in effect this morning for the north and west-facing shores of Kauai, Oahu, Molokai and Maui and the west-facing shore of the Big Island. A small craft advisory was also in effect for all Hawaiian waters, with the possibility of strong, gusty winds and waterspouts in the vicinity of thunderstorms.
North Shore waves were running at 15 to 18 feet yesterday, too rough for anyone but a few experts to surf, said Ocean Safety Capt. Bodo Van Der Leeden.
