Residents of Oahu are facing a gruelling cleanup after the worst flooding to hit Hawaii in two decades swept homes off their foundations, floated cars out of driveways and left floors, walls and counters covered in thick, reddish volcanic mud. Authorities said hundreds of homes had been damaged, along with some schools and a hospital. The cost of the storm is expected to top $1bn, according to Governor Josh Green, who called it the state’s most serious flooding since 2004.
On Monday, new downpours set off a fresh round of flooding on Oahu’s south side while residents on the island’s North Shore cleaned up and assessed the destruction from last week’s torrents. The National Weather Service said showers and thunderstorms were expected to wane but the Big Island remained under a flash flood watch. Parts of Oahu received 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30cm) of rain, on top of another recent storm that had dumped vast amounts days earlier.
Michael McEwan and his wife Heather Nakahara returned to their home in Waialua on Oahu’s North Shore to find their kitchen counters covered in red silt. The rushing water trapped the couple in a bedroom closet for eight hours with their two small terriers and three parrots until firefighters were able to rescue them. “It’s full of iron, so it stains everything brownish-yellow,” McEwan said of the volcanic mud.
Farms around the state reported more than $9.4m worth of damage as of Monday, according to a survey by Agriculture Stewardship Hawaii and the Hawaii Farm Bureau. Oahu farmers reported more than $2.7m in crop damage. Few farmers have federal crop insurance or any insurance at all. State leaders said they were seeking federal assistance to help pay for the recovery.
Officials blamed some of the devastation on the large volumes of rain that fell in a short amount of time. Winter storm systems known as “Kona lows”, which feature southerly or south-westerly winds that bring in moisture-laden air, have been responsible for the deluges. The intensity and frequency of heavy rains in Hawaii have increased amid human-caused global warming, experts say.
