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Rain soaks Big Isle, heads to Oahu

Minor rock slides stall traffic, but the weather is expected to improve

By Rod Thompson

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 28, 2008

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Wet weather that temporarily closed a Hilo highway and had Big Island residents using sandbags to prevent their homes from being flooded moved over to Maui yesterday but was expected to diminish and bring mostly passing showers to Oahu today, officials said.

A flood advisory was issued for Maui until 7:30 p.m. yesterday as heavy rains that have hit the Big Island since Thursday moved west, said National Weather Service forecaster Norman Hui. The wet front was expected to weaken today with the help of trade winds, he said.

On Friday afternoon, some areas of Hilo got nearly a foot of rain in 24 hours, but the downpour eased off yesterday without major damage, said Shelly Ichishita, spokeswoman for state Civil Defense.

The agency had 10 requests for sandbags on the Big Island between 4:30 and 10 p.m. Friday as some homeowners worried about water on the floor of their garage, officials said. Minor rock slides took place at Laupahoehoe, but were quickly cleared by road crews, Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Quince Mento said Friday.

Photographer Baron Sekiya caught images of Big Island motorists stopping their car and clearing rocks off the road Friday, and at tourist attraction Rainbow Falls, the Wailuku River shifted from a modest flow to a flood.

Also Friday, San Diego tourists Umash Megalamane and Asha Channamallaswamy, originally from India, surveyed the falls at midnight during a moment when the rain slowed to a drizzle.

Yes, they had come to Hawaii expecting sun, Channamallaswamy said. "We are preparing ourselves to cope with the rain," she said.

Longer term? New Year's Day in Honolulu is supposed to be "mostly sunny," the Weather Service said.

Star-Bulletin reporter Alex Da Silva contributed to this story.

Wet weather that temporarily closed a Hilo highway and had Big Island residents using sandbags to prevent their homes from being flooded moved over to Maui yesterday but was expected to diminish and bring mostly passing showers to Oahu today, officials said.

A flood advisory was issued for Maui until 7:30 p.m. yesterday as heavy rains that have hit the Big Island since Thursday moved west, said National Weather Service forecaster Norman Hui. The wet front was expected to weaken today with the help of trade winds, he said.

On Friday afternoon, some areas of Hilo got nearly a foot of rain in 24 hours, but the downpour eased off yesterday without major damage, said Shelly Ichishita, spokeswoman for state Civil Defense.

The agency had 10 requests for sandbags on the Big Island between 4:30 and 10 p.m. Friday as some homeowners worried about water on the floor of their garage, officials said. Minor rock slides took place at Laupahoehoe, but were quickly cleared by road crews, Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Quince Mento said Friday.

Photographer Baron Sekiya caught images of Big Island motorists stopping their car and clearing rocks off the road Friday, and at tourist attraction Rainbow Falls, the Wailuku River shifted from a modest flow to a flood.

Also Friday, San Diego tourists Umash Megalamane and Asha Channamallaswamy, originally from India, surveyed the falls at midnight during a moment when the rain slowed to a drizzle.

Yes, they had come to Hawaii expecting sun, Channamallaswamy said. "We are preparing ourselves to cope with the rain," she said.

Longer term? New Year's Day in Honolulu is supposed to be "mostly sunny," the Weather Service said.

Star-Bulletin reporter Alex Da Silva contributed to this story.

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ROD THOMPSON / RTHOMPSON@STARBULLETIN.COM
San Diego visitors to Hilo Umash Megalamane, left, and Asha Channamallaswamy braved the rain Friday to see a flooding Rainbow Falls. By nightfall, rain was falling much harder.