An accident on the H-3 Freeway that killed one man yesterday closed all westbound lanes. Police said a flower shop van lost control, crossed the median and hit another van.
Oahu’s heavy showers
lead to fatal accidentThe wet and muggy weather
is expected to last all month
Maui is expected to get the heavy rains today that soaked Oahu and Molokai yesterday and are blamed for a fatal accident on the H-3 Freeway.
The thundershowers are unusual for May, said National Weather Service lead forecaster Bob Farrell. But the wet weather is expected to continue through the month.
"The longer-range models show a continuation of this pattern -- a warm, muggy, wet period," Farrell said. "We've had a number of dry years. Perhaps it's just trying to make up for lost time."
The showers were disconcerting to residents living near two Oahu hillsides where boulders recently came down, as geologists worked on determining what caused the rockslides and whether there's a possibility more boulders will come down.
The rain also made driving difficult in parts of Oahu -- with several reports of ponded water on roadways -- and delayed a Honolulu Fire Department helicopter from picking up a critical patient from Kahuku Hospital.
Police closed the H-3 Freeway westbound between the Kamehameha Highway offramp and Kaneohe Bay Drive for more than five hours to investigate a fatal two-car accident at 7:20 a.m. yesterday.
Honolulu resident Victor Palmares, 39, was killed in the crash when the company van he was driving was hit by a flower shop van whose driver had lost control on the wet freeway, police said.
The flower company van was traveling eastbound on the H-3 Freeway near the Kamehameha Highway offramp in heavy rain when it hydroplaned, crossed the grassy median and plowed into Palmares' vehicle, which was traveling westbound.
Palmares was pronounced dead at the scene. His three passengers, along with the 49-year-old driver of the flower shop vehicle, were taken to the Queen's Medical Center with non-critical injuries.
Police said speed appeared to be a factor.
Palmares, who was headed to Pearl City, was part of a cleaning crew with PEMCO Ltd. Jeanne Sabate, the company's co-manager, said Palmares was a husband and a father of five.
"He was a great guy," she said. "He was always very happy. He was a very hard worker and just very well liked."
The weather service had a flash-flood advisory for most of yesterday on Oahu, upgrading it to a warning for a few hours in the afternoon. Farrell said torrential rains in the Pearl City area dropped 2 inches of rain between 3 and 3:30 p.m.
The weather service issued a flash-flood watch for Molokai, Maui and Lanai until this morning as the storm moved east. The rains were expected to move over Maui today and likely to the Big Island by Monday, Farrell said.
In Nanakuli yesterday, consultants with Earth Tech, Inc. surveyed the hillside where a 10-ton boulder slid down 36 feet Thursday night, coming to rest just a few feet from a home at 1428 Akowai Road.
The experts have not yet determined what caused the boulder to come down or whether the land above the home is owned privately or by the state, said state Department of Land and Natural Resources spokeswoman Deborah Ward yesterday.
She said state officials will meet tomorrow to discuss what to do next about the problem.
Meanwhile, residents of a Nuuanu neighborhood where a 4-foot boulder crashed down a hillside on Monday said they were worried about yesterday's rains .
"Everybody's concerned," said a Henry Street resident who asked that her name be withheld.
"Neighbors are very worried," said Bert Hamakado, whose home was damaged by the boulder.
A rockfall expert with Prometheus Construction looked at the Nuuanu hill behind Hamakado's home yesterday and determined it safe. "For now, he feels it's stable," Hamakado said.
Also yesterday, the state Department of Health issued a health advisory warning residents to stay out of streams, coastal and standing waters that are contaminated with storm runoff .
