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Storm drenches
much of isles
Forecasters predict more wet
weather through the weekend
Hawaii residents who weathered heavy rains from the remnants of Tropical Depression Darby the last two days can look forward to more rain during the weekend.
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Tropical Depression 06-E is much weaker than Darby, but all residents should expect heavy rain through the weekend, Burke said.
"Kauai is getting the remnants of Darby, but nothing as intense as things were over Oahu," Burke said last night.
Rain started on Oahu about 2 a.m. yesterday and stopped about noon, said Burke.
Flash flood watches were canceled for all the islands except Kauai, but that was set to end this morning.
Accidents related to the stormy weather and flooding, causing morning traffic snarls, were reported all over Oahu. Waihee Pump received the most rain, with 8.15 inches in a 24-hour period yesterday.
Oahu residents cleaned up from the rainfall throughout the day.
Torrents of water flowed through the yards of homes in the Waiahole-Waikane area.
"I'm under water to my kneecaps," said longtime Waiahole resident Lydia Garcia yesterday morning.
Garcia lives next to a stream that floods Kamehameha Highway every time a storm hits.
The water flooded the highway for a quarter of a mile and 1 1/2 feet deep. Police shut the highway from 3 a.m. to about 8 a.m., reopening it at 11:30 a.m.
Garcia's next-door neighbors' cars sat in the yard in deep flowing water that ran under the house.
The streams sent muddy runoff into the ocean, turning Windward Oahu coastal waters brown.
About 5,000 gallons of raw sewage spewed from a manhole in Ahuimanu into Kaneohe Stream. The heavy rains taxed the sewer system, causing the spill at 45-270 Waikalua Road, from 6 until 6:42 a.m. yesterday.
The rains caused minor rockslides, which forced the shutdown of Kalanianaole Highway near the Makapuu lookout and a portion of Diamond Head Road.
About a dozen rocks fell from the cliffside at Makapuu, the largest being 3 feet long, said Scott Ishikawa, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
A protective netting of steel wire mesh, which covers the cliff overhang, directed rocks to the ground and prevented rocks "from picking up steam and causing an avalanche out of control," Ishikawa said.
The Transportation Department is designing a chain-link fence to catch falling rocks for the Sea Life Park end of Makapuu.
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The wet conditions snarled morning rush-hour traffic. Several accidents on Likelike Highway caused police to divert traffic through Kalihi Valley. Too much rainwater at one time caused the lower section of the H-1 freeway viaduct near Aiea to flood, Ishikawa said. Accumulated trash on the freeway, which blocks drainage, may have contributed to the flooding, he said. He urged the public to keep roadways clean to prevent such occurrences. He said crews cleaned out two truckloads of trash last week.
The Honolulu Fire Department received only about 10 weather-related calls yesterday (midnight to 5:30 p.m.) for water intrusion and water evacuation, said Capt. Emmit Kane. Those calls came mostly from Waikiki and metropolitan Honolulu locations.
Late last year and earlier this year, heavy rains caused flooding at many Oahu homes and businesses, and the Fire Department received numerous calls for help.
Kane speculated the drop in calls was due to businesses and residents taking preventive measures to minimize the effects of the heavy rain.
The rains also delayed re-tiling work at the Palolo Valley District Pool, which also had been delayed by bad weather three days last week. The rains also forced the Hawaii State Farm Fair at Kapolei to close tonight.