Over 4,000 told to evacuate flooding in Hawaii : NPR
Streets are flooded due to heavy rain Friday in Haleiwa, Hawaii.
Mengshin Lin/AP
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Mengshin Lin/AP
HONOLULU (AP) — Muddy waters from heavy rains flooded streets, pushed homes off their foundations, submerged vehicles and triggered evacuation orders for thousands of residents in towns north of Honolulu Friday as authorities warned of the possible failure of a 120-year-old dam.
Emergency sirens sounded along Oahu’s north shore, where rising waters damaged homes in a community world-famous for its surfing. At 5:35 a.m. Friday, Honolulu authorities asked residents to leave the area downstream of Wahiawa Dam, saying it was “at risk of imminent failure.”
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries, but firefighters and rescuers on jet skis were searching the floodwaters for stranded people, said Ian Scheuring, a Honolulu spokesman.
“We have information that houses have been swept away,” he said. But the agency doesn’t know how many. The evacuation order asked fleeing residents to carpool due to heavy traffic.
Streets are flooded due to heavy rain Friday in Haleiwa, Hawaii.
Mengshin Lin/AP
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Mengshin Lin/AP
Authorities have been monitoring dam levels since a storm last week dumped heavy rain across the state, causing catastrophic flooding that washed away roads and homes. After the worst, a similar but weaker storm is expected to bring more rain this weekend.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green said in a social media post that the Hawaii National Guard had been activated to respond to the flooding. “Of course, the storm is very bad right now, especially on the northern part of Oahu,” he said, describing chest-deep floodwaters. “It’s going to be a very eventful day.”
Most of the state was under a flood watch, with North Oahu under a flash flood warning, according to the National Weather Service, which reported “widespread life-threatening flash flooding” that is “extremely dangerous,” particularly in Haleiwa and Waialua.
A shelter at Waialua High and Middle School is being evacuated due to flooding, Scheuring said. There were about 185 people and 50 pets sheltering there but being transported by bus to another evacuation center.
“With the saturation last weekend, it didn’t take much and we got plenty,” he said, noting that there was between 8 and 12 inches of rain in parts of North Oahu overnight.
As she prepared to evacuate to a friend’s house on higher ground, Waialua resident Kathleen Pahinui told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the aging dam was a concern every time it rained.
“Just pray for us,” she said. “We understand it’s still raining.”
Streets are flooded due to heavy rain Friday in Haleiwa, Hawaii.
Mengshin Lin/AP
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Mengshin Lin/AP
Molly Pierce, a spokeswoman for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management, said the evacuation order covers more than 4,000 people, although that number could be higher.
Authorities issued a warning about the dam during heavy rain last week, but the water level dropped as the rain subsided.
“Water is actively flowing over the spillway right now,” she said.
State Sen. Brenton Awa, a Republican who represents the North Shore, said the area, long popular with tourists and known for its big waves, has seen a lot of development and newcomers in recent years. “This is not the North Shore I knew as a kid,” he said, adding that he wonders how these unprecedented floods will further change the region.
He said he had read reports that some people had not been able to evacuate because of the flooding. “Right now it’s an isolated community, they’re isolated,” he said.
The state regulates 132 dams across Hawaii, most built as part of irrigation systems for the sugarcane industry, according to a 2019 infrastructure report from the American Society of Civil Engineers.
In 2006, seven people were killed when Ka Loko Dam on the island of Kauai collapsed and water rushed downward.
