LIHUE — The storm that’s set to hit Kauai today shouldn’t bring as much rain as the last one.
Derek Wroe, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service, said though there shouldn’t be as much rain, there’s still a chance for flooding.
“The island is still saturated,” Wroe said Wednesday afternoon. “Though the threat is lower, it wouldn’t take a lot of rain to flood.”
A flash flood watch is in effect for the whole island from today through at least Friday afternoon, meaning that conditions may develop that lead to flash flooding.
“With this system, there are stronger trades, and with the trades blowing it should blow most of the showers through,” Wroe said. “We don’t expect it to be like last weekend, with thunder storms parking over a single area.”
The storm that hammered the North Shore and caused severe flooding over the weekend racked up 28.15 inches of rain over the 24-hour period that ended at 2 a.m. Sunday in Hanalei.
More than 460 people have been rescued from areas that were cut off on the North Shore by the storms. Bridges all over the island are experiencing temporary partial or full closures, and state officials say it could take weeks, at least, to reopen some roads.
Homes in Hanalei, Haena, Wainiha, Anahola and in Koloa were damaged, some lost completely in mudslides, and residents are still trapped on the other side of Hanalei by landslides that covered Kuhio Highway in multiple places.
The rainfall has been hailed as landmark on the island.
“What happened last weekend was historic. It was an unbelievable amount of rain,” Wroe said. “This system doesn’t look like it’ll shape up like that.”
The storm is the result of two different factors colliding above the state on Wednesday evening and today, but the storm is moving west to east, which is good news for Kauai.
“The garden island will be the first part of the state to clear and we’ll see improvement on Friday and stable trade winds,” Wroe said. “Should be sun over the weekend, which will help for all those on the North Shore that will be busy (cleaning up after the storms).”
