We have had a whopper of a storm go through yesterday. Very high winds and lashing winds - my neighbors, who have lived here all their lives, said they had never seen rain like it! Maui sits back in the curve of the islands with the outer islands of Maui County which usually tend to protect us, in fact Maui even escaped Huricane Iniki in the 80's which devistated Kauai.
This storm was a Kona (which means leeward so I am told) storm which sucked all the moist tropical air up onto the normally dry sides. Our power went out at 9.30 am but was restored at 2 am this morning, although I believe some folks are still without power and also without water....emergency shelters have been set up in the schools.
All the dry washes up hill from us failed and we had a flash flood throughout our neighborhood. We were one of the lucky ones, only getting the flooding down our driveway (about 6 inches against the house). Nearly all of the folks surrounding me have lost untold numbers of trees and plants, their gardens have deep ravines gouged out from the rushing waters. The family opposite me have a 8 foot lava wall that the water managed to drill through in many places. The fire department had a truck on our street in case the whole wall gave way, which luckily it hasn't so far. Huge bolders being washed down into the gardens and onto the roads making it very dangerous. Heavy rain continuing this morning...
All the shops and restaurants closed - you gotta feel sorry for the visitors...Safeways was open, but only allowing one person at a time into the store taking them round with a light stick to pick up 5 items only - cash.
I have never been in a flash flood before, and though we were relatively unaffected, it is awful to watch what it was doing to the land and to peoples homes, and be totally unable to do anything about it. We have not had the full story reported on the news yet, but some homes on Oahu have colapsed...
What was I saying about how we could do with some rain? It just shows you that you have to be careful what you wish for...
Storm has stalled over us and the Big Island but we don't have the heavy winds today, which is a blessing. Hopefully Carol will be spared on the windward side. Haven't been able to get out into the garden to see the damage but I can see from my window some papaya trees are missing.
Nipping off to see what I missed on the other threads in case we loose power again.
Aloha
Huge storm in the islands
I am sorry to hear this info....after living thru a big storm myself, I know what some folks are going through....plants/trees will return in due time but thankfully you did not report any casualties....Look after each other and keep us posted....Glad your power is back on for now.....sometimes a forced-candlelight dinner is just what you need in times like this!!
aurabest,
john
Hope things have calmed down some now!
Thoughts are with you! I was there in the flash floods on Kauaii a couple years ago...ick.
Hoping today is looking better. Pearl Harbor Day, infamous Dec.7, 1941.
Seems as if mother nature weeps on the sad hystorical day. Hope things soon will improve and back to normacy.
Kim
Aloha!
Trying to post quickly while we have power this morning. Storm is turning back on us and we are getting periodic heavy rains, but the very high winds are gone for the most part, just gusty now. Lots of damage up country in Kula; one house completely swept of its foundation (luckily no-one was home at the time), two young boys picked up by helicopter off their roof safe and sound. The floods came so quickly that one families cats all drowned inside their house. Kula is directly above us up the mountain, we are getting all the debris washing down with the flood water to the sea.
Roads have been washed away on some of the steeper hills, going to have to be very careful going down to work. Along Kihei road (road that runs along the ocean) sand dunes and lifeguard stations are now gone, large trees down, and all the condo's that are acually on the ocean side have been flooded. Luckily the condo I work at is on a steep hill on the other side of the road so they got away lightly, however they were trapped in because of the unpassable road. Got to feel so sorry for the visitors - so many tell me "oh no, I don't cook on vacation". Hard to have a fully equiped kitchen and no food. Dreadful way to have a weeks vacation expecting to enjoy sea and sand.
Hear that California is getting the heavy rains now, hope they are all okay, their ground is so unstable now after the fires took all the vegetation...
Expecting all this junk to be cleared by Monday when the trade winds are back.
Thanks everyone for the kind thoughts...
Just heard we made national news! CNN...
Have survived a few tropical storms here. One flooded to the roof a house that I had moved out of just two days earlier! The devestation can be terrible. Just got an email from a friend in San Diego; they are expecting the storms there any time now.
katiebear
You most certainly did BH'M....CNN showed 2 guys surfing a couch down the middle of the road!!! Dealt Lemons? Make Lemonade....
Prayers are with you BH and all the people on the islands!!!
Oh Jen, so sorry to hear of all the bad weather and damage! Will keep you in my prayers! So glad that you and yours are safe!
Jeanne
(((BHM))) sending prayers your way.
I am so sorry to hear such terrible news. We spent 8 fabulous days in Maui in October and stayed in a condo right on the beach in Kihei on S. Kihhei Road. It is across from a great Farmer's Market of Maui where we bought fresh fruit and a great little ABC store. We were right by the Kihea canoe club. We loved the location.
We are devastated to hear of all of the damage all over the island. We spent many days in Kula and I was just examining photos that I took at the Kula Botanical Garden when I decided to check out this forum. I am sure glad we weren't on the road to Hana when something like this happened! Braveheartsmom, you will certainly know what I mean by this statement. My thoughts and prayers are with all of those that have been affected.
Hi Jenny....thinking of you during all these storms!!!
I was on the North Shore of Oahu Monday-Thursday....Tuesday the power went out and the bungalow we rented had no lanterns nor candles...w.e drove to a big flash resort for some coffee and breakfast as NOTHING on the North Shore had power - ergo no food. Wed. we had to drive an hour south near Honolulu to get some dinner! Light poles snapped like chopsticks... They said there was some 50' surf that night at the Pipeline. We have been hammered here too!!! Kona winds bring the 'vog' from the errupting volcanic vent smack into Hilo - YUCK!!! We are lucky that the Trades push them to the leeward side.
The first night I was away there was an elec. storm and DH ran out to get the dogs to bring them in (they are terrified) but he must have not heard it come because Thelma had chewed thru the Chain Link door and they escaped. Came back at midnight... Last night they slept inside and felt safe.
Nothing like living on a rock in the middle of an ocean, eh Jenny???
Carol
Carol, Jenny, I'm praying for everyone on the Island. Take good care, and please keep us current of the news.
Oh Yeah! It's been over forty years and I can still remember some of the storms or sitting up on top of the mountain due to a tidal wave alert! One year during the summer it rained so bad someone had taken a boat down the middle of the road in Honolulu!!!!! Not fun!!!!
Of course here we have Hurricanes, but at least you can see them coming!!!!!!
And, on that little Rock out there in the ocean, there is no where to go!!!!!!!!!
Of course, after sitting in 37 hours of a traffic jam on land, don't think I'd want to try it on that long long bridge from the islands to California if they ever get it built! haha
So glad that you both are OK!!!!!
I'm taking a moment of meditation and prayer for the good karma to sooth!
Thanks, Randy. Pele must be having a fight with her sister, Hi'iaka (Goddess of Water)...they always cause SOOOOoooo much trouble!!!!
Paradise in peril. He will hold you in His hand.
Right? They were going at it when I was there in Kauai.
It had been unusually dry on the Kekaha side, I have never, and have not since seen bougainvilla of every kind completely covered in blooms on the cliffs and hillside..then Pele and Hi"iaka got into it...the blooms disappeared and it rained, and rained...flash floods...and there's only one road out!
(my friend works for a helicopter service) so inbetween jousts of Pele, they popped a Hellicopter to get us from A to B...
I'm glad everyone is in one piece and seemingly healthy.. Having said that, sometimes a few trees edited from the garden brings new and wonderful things! I lamented when that pecan tree fell in my garden...but, it did wonders for it later!
No word from Jen?
Aloha Everyone!
Home from work - weather steadily improving. We are now just getting very heavy bouts of rain, wind is much calmer - I think we are going to live to tell about it! System (which they are now calling a cyclone) is moving off, unfortunately looks like its heading to the Pacific Northwest and those poor folks have already had enough.
Wish I had caught the CNN news about kids surfing on a sofa, thanks for letting me know John, must have been a funny sight!
Power back on now and holding steady. You really have to hand it to those MECO guys to be fixing the downed poles and lines in that awfull weather. Our fire dept, police dept and city workers were stretched to the limit and did a wonderful job for us.
Roads with sink holes, mud everywhere, trees down - we are a mess! We have no beaches left in Kihei, all swept out to sea. Such a strange sight to see lava rock where there is usually white sand, of course it will come back in due time. Hopefully not too many coral reefs have been damaged.
Surprisingly not too much damage in the garden. Lost a couple of papaya and some things look a little bashed but believe it or not the brug flowers hung on (except for the very tallest trees), starfruit, avocados, oranges, lemons,pomegranite, pummelo, bananas, papaya and guava still on the trees as if nothing happened! Most of my real damage is to the ground, all the watering system pipe is on top now and I have some real gullies here and there. On the bright side I have gained a lot of good topsoil thanks to all my neighbors up hill! My paint shed moved three feet and our kayak floated to the bottom of the garden! Too early to assess how much water got under the house - I expect I will soon know when the floors start swelling up...oh well I put the floor in, so I guess I will be able to fix it if necessary.
Sorry Carol got caught up in it too, those poor dogs, so glad they came back home safe and sound. I am having trouble getting mine to even go outside, Candy doesn't do rain! That dog can hold on for hours for a break in the clouds!
Thank you all for your kind thoughts, and welcome to htop - I don't know what UBER means, but it sounds very important! The area you were staying in is very low lying and got some of the worst flooding. Kula Botanical Gardens had so much debris from the flash flood its going to take them weeks to dig out.
Last I heard there was 6 inches of snow on top of Mauna Loa and blizzard conditions! Only in Hawaii!
Love to all you dear people!
J
Jenny, glad you're okay. We saw the "surfing couch" on local ABC news tonight. Said the boys were going 30 mph down the street! Are you missing a couch?
We were at Hickam during the 80s for the big hurricane. Lots of wind and trees down, but I don't remember flooding. Spent Thanksgiving that yr in Kauai. The hotel was only partially open...but the island was beautiful and worth any inconvenience.
I so wish I had seen that! Perhaps it will be on our news tonight, it's the sort of thing I would have done with my brothers when I was young (and had no sense of danger!)
Acually, according to my mother I still don't "have the sense God gave me" because I paddled upstream in the middle of the storm to check on one of my elderly neighbors. When I got back she was horrified at my doing something so silly "at my age" and made me change my clothes "because I was going to catch a cold" It was in the 70's - not freezing! Some things never change! LOL! Mothers!
Storm is moving 'back up the chain'...dogs will sleep inside tonight because of the thunderstorms. Poor dears...they just don't do Thunder!!! Hold on Jenny...it should go by fast!!!
Carol
Lord! Does that mean I am going to get it AGAIN! Sorry you got caught in the mess on Oahu, isn't it a relief to be back home!
Here is a link on another site that has footage of the couch surfers....it is a news intelcast and shows other news briefly...the couch scene is about halfway thru....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xa7UCiXt58
What would we do without YouTube? Hope everything is calm now, braveheartsmom and the dogs are going outside again.
I caught the couch ride on CNN Live on the internet. They played it over and over and over. Carol, Jen, so glad you are both back online today. Felt like it did when we were waiting for John earlier about the hurricanes. I have been through the cylcones/tornados here. Last one was in 1994 and we rode it out in the closet. Lost 5 30ft trees. It about wiped out the neighboring community. Lifted our roof and set it back down. The joists were pulled away. The two storey house just 100 feet away was a one storey when the wind died down. Goodness me, your shed moved three feet. We people here on DG are nothing if not resiliant. Always looking at what we have and not what was lost. Wonderful. Wish we could be there to help repair and clean up.
Mahalo John for the youtube link, those guys were having fun!
All pretty good this morning, haven't really got my eyes open yet, or downed my first cuppa tea! Heavy clouds all round, but not raining at the moment. We are hoping for the trade winds to come back on Monday to blow this all out of here. The landscapers at work were trying to hose off the mud on the sidewalk outside the place I work yesterday and I got a call from the water board telling us to stop using water, we are still in conservation mode! I am going to try to go over the road today while I am at work and get a picture of the beach that was.
Yesterday the road dept filled in some very deep ravines that had been cut along the side of the road (just round the corner from me) that goes straight down to the sea. We had a very heavy downpour at lunch time and all the ravines are back! Pot holes everywhere, mind you our roads are lumpy and bumpy at the best of times.
Welcome AYankeeCat, love your name! So glad you joined us, don't be a stranger!
Mahalo and Aloha to all.
Be careful you don't slip and fall down one of those ravines,while taking a picture!!!!
.....and wind up on youtube....
That storm sounds like a typical midwestern storm. lol. Glad no one was hurt and at least the damage is fixable.
Wow, if the pineapple connection brings that to us here we should be able to handle it since the rivers are not very high yet. But if it blasts the fire areas down south it could get really ugly.
Right now we are in a clear skies and cold air mass. Chilly but nice to see the sun after last weeks gray and drizzle.
Stay safe!
So there is a sun!!!!
Well hope it shines here ,even for a while!!!
Another day another storm, marble size hail so we were lucky, some people are now ringing in and have had gulf ball to tennis ball size stones, most people have given up trying to decorate the outside of their homes because of the winds and wild weather ...right now there is bright sunlight and a lot of steam! the cicadas are happy, singing their hearts out, we haven't heard them for a few years, must have been the drought, second storm coming through ...it seems to be the pattern now ...a storm from the west and then a double bunger from the North! Strange days indeed ...lost the power 5 times today,if I go "poof" you will know why, just the same we really needed the water ...and it sure is a whole lot better than 110 F and fires!
Hope everyone is travelling ok!
chrissy
Crissy, Stay out of the hail! I hope you get enough water to end your drought with out getting so much you flood! Mother nature is certainly fickle!