Maunalaha taking a beating

The valley's residents fear rains could send more landslides tumbling their way

As more rain threatens, Maunalaha Valley families who live just downhill from recurring landslides on Round Top Drive fear that landslides could endanger their homes.

Lifetime valley resident Leinaala Lopes pointed uphill from her secluded home on normally dry Maunalaha Stream to Round Top Drive yesterday and described what happened with Friday's landslide, the sixth in five days.

Carried by rushing water after heavy rains, the volcanic cinder valley residents call "black sand" knocked out plantings of taro, ti leaf, banana and coffee trees, leaving a gaping hole in the formerly lush hillside.

Banana trees and other debris washed down Maunalaha Road, resident Sally Moses said.

"All the dirt that came from up there filled up our stream," Lopes said, as she and Moses showed the effects on Maunalaha Stream yesterday.

A large drainage pipe -- about 3 feet in diameter -- that normally routes the stream under a neighbor's driveway was completely filled in on one end with dirt and rocks. Instead of going through the pipe, water flowed over the top of the driveway.

Residents are afraid more flooding will cut off the only road into their neighborhood.

Valley residents Nancy and Michael Sylva and their three young boys spent the night away from home yesterday with relatives in Waianae.

"I have never seen it like this ever before," Nancy Sylva said. "Never, never, never."

Engineers from the Department of Land and Natural Resources checked out two problem sites on Maunalaha Stream yesterday, DLNR Director Peter Young said last night. The department hired an emergency contractor, which had set up a protective barrier and begun to remove debris yesterday afternoon, he said.

The families on Maunalaha Road lease their land from the DLNR.

"The state said the city is handling the landslide" by clearing Round Top Drive, Moses said. "But it's state property that's sliding onto a city road.

"While they're battling, we're sucking black sand and water," Moses said. The DLNR has hired EarthTech as a consultant to try and figure out what is causing its land to slide onto Round Top Drive and below, Young said yesterday. City crews have removed dirt from Round Top Drive after each of the slides, which have become bigger each time, said John Nigro, city supervisor of storm drains.

The Round Top Drive slides have increased from a small amount that could be removed with shovels, to 5 or 6 truckloads the second, third and fourth slides, to 22 truckloads on the fifth slide and more than 50 truckloads yesterday, Nigro said. Friday night's slide took 14 hours to clear, he said.

Meanwhile the weather service was predicting a storm could hit Oahu again today and more rain is expected on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Computer models show that the low-level trough 900 miles west of Kauai that has been bringing all the rain could stick around through at least April 3, forecasters said.

A flash-flood watch is up through late tomorrow.

On Maui, a funnel cloud was seen off Paia. It did not move onto land or cause any damage.

"We've had it all -- hail, a tornado, floods, a dam break. I don't know what else we can get," said National Weather Service forecaster Tom Birchard.

In anticipation of more wet weather, a three-man city drainage system crew worked from 6:30 a.m. until dark, clearing drainage problems in Manoa and Makiki, Nigro said. Their last stop yesterday was the drain on Puuhonua Street in Manoa Valley, downhill from Michael Hofmann and Linda Green's home that has had mudslides in the backyard three times this week.

DLNR workers, the National Guard and prison laborers worked a "bucket brigade" to clear tons of mud out of the home's backyard Thursday and Friday -- only to have more return Friday night.

Ten DLNR workers and more than 30 volunteers, friends and neighbors spent yesterday digging out the couples' home again.

"These people have been really wonderful," a mud-spattered Hofmann said yesterday. He also praised DLNR engineers with crafting temporary barriers to route mud around the house. In Windward Oahu yesterday, rains stranded two women who were hiking on a trail behind the Kaaawa Fire Station. Firefighters lifted the two women out of the trail about 7:46 p.m. and dropped them off at Swanzy Beach Park.

They were uninjured, Fire Capt. Jerry Spencer said.

On Kauai, emergency preparedness officials concluded the second of two Disaster Assistance and Recovery Centers for residents affected by recent flooding on that island.

State Civil Defense reported 112 requests for assistance at the Kilauea and Kalaheo events. Oahu and Kauai residents who were unable to attend the disaster-help events can still call Aloha United Way's 2-1-1 line 24 hours a day to report disaster needs, an agency release said.

The Red Cross also reported that 57 dwellings were affected by heavy rain on Kauai, including two homes destroyed, four with major damage, 13 with minor damage and 38 others affected.

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