HONOLULU — Crews on Tuesday began assessing damage from a sudden downpour that sent floodwaters sweeping through a neighborhood near downtown Honolulu — the latest bout in a series of storms and flooding to hit the state over the past two weeks.
Residents along the North Shore of Oahu are known for their Surfing big waveshas been cleaned The worst floods to hit Hawaii Within two decades when Monday’s storm dumped several inches of rain on the southern part of the island. Reddish-brown torrents poured along roads in Manoa Valley, a few miles east of downtown Honolulu, sweeping away parked cars and flooding much of the neighborhood.
“I was shocked when I saw the extent of the flash floods in my area,” said Manoa resident Andrew Phumsophanh, who recorded a video of streets transformed into a confluence of cliffs. “The water keeps coming.”
Natalie Aczon went to the pharmacy to buy some medication for her mother on Monday. By the time I left the store about 15 minutes later, water was pouring down the street next to the shopping center.
“People came running out of Longs, and one of the guys actually said, ‘This is my white car,’” she said, and it rose.
The intensity of Monday’s heavy rain surprised meteorologists with the National Weather Service. Meteorologist Cole Evans said they knew that continued instability caused by a strong winter storm system called a “Kona Low” could bring more rain, but their models are not good at predicting how much moisture could remain in such systems.
“Just when you think it’s over, it’s not over yet,” he said Tuesday.
The precipitation, which fell 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of rain per hour, was very localized: one rain gauge at the top of the valley recorded 6 inches (15 centimeters), while an airport a few miles away recorded one-hundredth of an inch (less than a millimeter).
Evans said the Kona low is moving to the east and should not pose an additional risk of explosions like the one that occurred Monday. There was flash flooding in effect in the eastern part of Maui.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries, but authorities said hundreds of homes on Oahu’s North Shore were damaged by last week’s flooding, which came as heavy rains dumped on soil already saturated by heavy rains from Oahu. Winter storm a week ago.
More than 230 people had to be rescued. The water pushed homes off their foundations, rolled cars out of parking spaces, and left walls, floors and offices covered in thick, reddish volcanic mud.
Evacuation orders included 5,500 people north of Honolulu, and some residents fled on surfboards when the water reached their waist or chest.
Farms across the state reported more than $9.4 million in damage as of Monday, according to a survey by Hawaii Agricultural Stewardship, the Hawaii Farm Bureau and other organizations.
Even before Monday, Gov. Josh Green said the cost of the storm could exceed $1 billion, including damage to airports, schools, roads, homes and the Maui Hospital on Kula. He called it the most dangerous in the state since floods since 2004, when floods at Manoa inundated homes and the University of Hawaii library.
In addition to volunteers and public workers cleaning up, a contracted company arrived to begin collecting, sorting and removing large piles of debris, said Molly Pierce, a spokeswoman for the Oahu Emergency Management Agency.
She called the storm system “very unusual” but officials were cautiously optimistic Tuesday that the rains had finally ended.
“Most of us have never seen anything go this way,” Pierce said. “We feel like we’re constantly getting hit. But we’ll keep getting back up.”
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Johnson reported from Seattle. Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.