March 15, 2006 - MORE... March 16 & 17

I've received many emails about the flooding you are hearing about on the news, so I figured I'd update my long neglected Blog.  Here is the latest:

Yes, the flooding is pretty bad here.  We have more coming tonight  and tomorrow - the reservoir is still at risk of overflowing.  Actually 2 reservoirs.  They only talk about one on the national news though.  We have 7 people still missing.  They found one of the victims, of a washed out house,  one mile out to sea and are still looking for the keiki (children).  There were 3 houses washed down a culvert to the sea.  I picked up Sam, last night, because the reservoir, in the farm area where she lives is near to overflowing.  They evacuated everyone, so she is with me for the next few days. A 100 foot section of the main road, north of Kilauea was washed away yesterday morning.  Several thousand are not able to come to the rest of the island.  That's not too bad, except the commerce side is over here and they can't get to work.  Some could not go home and are in shelters.  It sounds worse than it is on the news but everyone has such an aloha spirit, they help by volunteering homes, delivering food and water, and keeping everyone's spirits up. It's not as bad as it could be.  Nothing has affected me at all except the stress. They were shuttling travelers from the other side of the island in helicopters so they could leave the island and that was great.  The more tourists we can evacuate the better, as we really have problems with our resource availability if we have a lot of tourists here.  I offered my home last night but it wasn't needed because the hotels opened up rooms for free.  I think all is working well with the Emergency preparedness process.  The radio station that's linked to them is amazing as everyone calls in to tell where road problems are etc. so you can avoid them if you know how -  I do, so getting around has been a challenge but not unsafe or that slow.  They closed the airport on that side last night but opened it again today so those that wanted to shuttle to the main airport had a chance to evacuate the island.

Today they inspected all 60 reservoirs.  Not many residents realized we had that many.  I've learned that Kauai has the most reservoirs of all the islands, as they are left over from when the sugar cane was actively grown here.  Most were built in the 20s and are on private property so they are not maintained nor inspected.  There are many discussions about the safety of everyone with respect to the chances of these having problems and not being kept up.

I live on a high cliff on the South West side of the island.  I can look over the cliff to the sea from the drive into the complex where I live.  My lanai looks over a ravine where there are many trees.  There is a major river going on down there...  I'm hoping it drowns the stupid Moa (chickens).

Aloha, from the wet-side of the world.

Here are some pictures of the flooding:

March 16, 2006

Today was more of the same but now the South side of the island is really having problems.  They gave people there the opportunity and transportation (National Guard) to evacuate starting at 4pm today.  They have not suggested or required evacuation yet but are telling the people of Poipu and Koloa to listen closely to the alerts as the river is overflowing and there is a reservoir they are concerned about on that side also.  We received 4-5 inches of rain all over the island from 7am through 4pm, and it has not quit.  It is now almost 10pm.

They recovered another body today so that is very sad.  This was a pregnant woman who was to be married on Saturday.  Her relatives arrived for the wedding yesterday.   The bridegroom was the first body found I think.  Not sure about this but information has been from pretty reliable sources.  Seems she is the daughter of a long time resident who is a large property owner and realtor. 

From what I hear it has been very difficult for people on the north end of the island to get into town still as the work is moving slowly for the road repair and the searches for the five still missing.

Here are the latest photos that people submitted.

March 16, 2006

Looks like the rain is gone for now.  Thanks to everyone for checking on us.  My email box was full and it was great to hear from everyone.  I have stopped up toilets today so the complex is going to look to see if water got in our septic tank.  But, other than that all is well.

March 22, 2006

We are under a warning again tonight and it's starting to get to me.  The stress is high, but everyone is trying to pitch in and be optimistic.  They expect no more damn problems but the slides are predicted to hit again starting tonight for about 3 days.  The mountains are amazing with the mud waterfalls.  There's water coming down from mountains where no one has ever seen it before. 

I leave for Arizona Thursday, and I thought I'd never say this, but I'm ready for a break.  I just hope Arizona does not have a drop of rain while I'm there.  My niece, April is getting married.  Also, my niece Emily had a baby girl so I'll get to meet her.  Samantha is still at my place.  They have warned residents where the farm she lives at is under a warning again and they can call for transportation if they decide to evacuate again.  Since the damn is ok I dont' thing they will.  The septic tank has to be emptied about every two days of water so we are constantly cehcking to make sure the toilets work.  So far, one usually doesn't and the other does so it's not been that bad.

Aloha from The Wettest Place on Earth