Yesterday's rain made for hazardous driving conditions and heavier traffic. This was the scene on the H-1 freeway heading Ewa near the Likelike Highway exit.
Rain blamed in several
crashes is likely to linger
Several rain-related auto accidents closed tunnels on the Likelike Highway for hours yesterday, and forecasters predict rain will continue through the Christmas weekend.
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Although the Kaneohe-bound tunnel was closed more than 2 1/2 hours and the Honolulu-bound tunnel was closed more than an hour, Silva said he was not aware of major slowdowns in traffic.
Police stations around the island reported a variety of rain-related minor accidents, but the tunnel closures had the most wide-reaching effect.
State Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa noted that all state work has been stopped for the holidays, so any traffic problems "are not our fault," he joked.
"I heard it's raining really bad everywhere," Ishikawa said yesterday afternoon. "Drivers need to slow down. There's a little bit of rain, a little bit of holiday rush ... so everybody's just got to take it easy. It's going to take a little bit longer."
National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Burke said that "long-lasting, steady rain" fell on Oahu yesterday, with more than 2 inches of accumulation in some areas.
Today, tomorrow and on Christmas Day, expect more of the same, with chances for rain approaching 50 percent, but no heavy rains or flooding predicted, Burke said.
"There will be probably quite a bit of cloudiness," he said. "We may experience showers over portions of the islands, especially Kauai and Oahu, with less on the Big Island end of the state."
Meanwhile, the high-surf warning for north-facing shores could be reduced to advisory levels today or tomorrow, with further drops over the weekend, Burke said. "I don't see any real significant swells, like over the last couple of days," he said.
Pedestrians on Bishop and Hotel streets took out their rain gear.
This cyclist tried to stay dry yesterday while riding up Kapahulu Avenue.
A small lake of water formed near the Magic Island parking lot entrance yesterday as Honolulu was soaked in rain.
Shortly after the first wreck, three more cars were involved in minor rear-end collisions in the same area, and that tunnel remained closed until 11:20 a.m., he said.
Then, at 11:58 a.m., a Honolulu-bound tow truck inside a tunnel caught on fire, closing that tunnel for more than an hour, Silva said.
While the Honolulu-bound tunnel remained closed, the Kaneohe-bound tunnel was closed again from 12:10 to 1:10 p.m. to clean up an oil spill, Silva said.
Finally, just before 4 p.m., a three-vehicle accident closed the Kaneohe-bound tunnel for about five minutes, Silva said.
Hawaiian Electric Co. reported two separate outages yesterday morning, which might have been rain-related, spokesman Jose Dizon said.
About 300 McCully area customers were without power between 4:50 and 6 a.m., and about 600 customers in the vicinity of Wyllie and Alewa streets were powerless from 7:04 to 7:47 a.m., Dizon said.
Umbrellas shielded pedestrians along Bishop and Hotel streets yesterday.
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