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Hawaii’s worst flooding in two decades damaged homes across Oahu and triggered rescues, as officials continued cleanup and assessment after new rounds of downpours renewed flooding risk. Authorities said hundreds of homes were damaged along with some schools and a hospital, and they reported no deaths as of Monday. On Monday, fresh showers set off another period of flooding on Oahu’s south side while residents on the island’s North Shore evaluated destruction from last week’s torrents.
Gov. Josh Green said the cost of the storm could top $1 billion, including damage to airports, schools, roads, homes and a Maui hospital in Kula. He described it as the state’s most serious flooding since 2004, when floods in Manoa inundated homes and a University of Hawaii library. Green’s estimate reflected damage the state was still documenting as crews worked through muddy debris left behind by the downpours.
On Oahu’s North Shore, the flooding rose quickly after midnight Friday as heavy rains fell on soil already saturated from a winter storm a week earlier. Molly Pierce, a spokesperson for the Oahu Emergency Management Agency, said stream gauges surged into flood stage status as officials observed how quickly water levels rose. She said the rapid runoff reflected both the volume of water falling and the sheer saturation that left little capacity for absorption, with “all the water just flows.”
The storm prompted evacuation orders for 5,500 people north of Honolulu, though those orders were later lifted. Officials also said more than 230 people had to be rescued during the period when waters rose in neighborhoods known for winter surf. Some residents fled on surfboards as water reached waist or chest high, according to residents’ accounts included in the report.
In the university neighborhood of Manoa, an intense band of showers passed over Oahu’s south side Monday afternoon, raising stream levels and turning a road into a fast-moving current. Pierce said stream gauges rapidly entered flood stage status as the saturation persisted. Officials said they did not know how many homes and structures were affected by Monday’s renewed flooding in that area.
The report described how North Shore flooding trapped residents inside their homes for hours as water moved through saturated ground and debris. Michael McEwan and his wife, Heather Nakahara, returned to their home in Waialua over the weekend and found kitchen counters covered in red silt. They said rushing water trapped them in a bedroom closet for eight hours with their two small terriers and three parrots until daybreak on Friday, when McEwan was able to flag down firefighters and rescuers used a rope guide through a narrow channel of flowing water.
Officials attributed much of the devastation to the high volumes of rain that fell in a short time. The National Weather Service said parts of Oahu received 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 centimeters), which it said was on top of another recent storm that had dumped heavy rain days earlier. It said Kaala, the island’s highest peak, got nearly 16 inches (40 centimeters) late last week, on top of 26.6 inches (67.6 centimeters) between March 10 and 16, and it described the period’s systems as “Kona lows” that bring moisture-laden air.
Pierce said in some North Shore neighborhoods, residents had to walk through silt up to their knees or deeper to reach properties, and she described the red volcanic mud as difficult to clean. She said when the mud was dry it became dust that stains, and when it was wet it clung like heavy, wet snow. Pierce also said volunteers arrived from across Oahu and even from other islands to help clear muck and debris, and she said Oahu Emergency Management received more than 400 reports of damaged or destroyed homes from Friday’s floods.
As residents cleaned up, officials also looked at infrastructure risk, including concerns around an aging dam north of Honolulu. The report said officials warned the 120-year-old Wahiawa dam was “at risk of imminent failure” during the rising waters, and that worries eased as the water receded. The dam was built in 1906 for sugar production and later reconstructed after a collapse in 1921, and the state has said it has “high hazard potential,” with a failure “will result in probable loss of human life.” Records cited in the report said the state sent Dole four notices of deficiency about the dam since 2009 and fined the company $20,000 five years ago for failing to address safety deficiencies on time.
In response to those safety concerns, the report said Dole proposed donating the dam, reservoir and ditch system to the state in exchange for an agreement to repair the spillway to meet and maintain dam safety standards. A Dole statement said, “The dam continues to operate as designed with no indications of damage.” Separately, Green recommended donations to the Hawaii Community Foundation’s Stronger Hawaii Fund, and the report said the Hawaiian Council launched an initiative called Kako’o Oahu to help with housing and other needs.