LYDGATE — Kauai’s Parks &Recreation Department broke out the big guns to tackle debris in Morgan Ponds Wednesday, while under a flash flood watch from yet another incoming tropical storm.
As they did after April flooding, heavy equipment operators are stacking driftwood removed from the ponds and the beach for disposal after Tropical Storm Lane sent the debris down the Wailua River and out into the ponds and ocean.
“Work on clearing the beach has begun today,” said Tommy Noyes, general coordinator for the group Friends of Kamalani and Lydgate, which spearheads beach cleanups in the area.
Tropical Storm Lane danced round the Hawaiian Islands on Aug. 25 and 26, drenching Hawaii Island with more than four feet of rain.
Downpours on Kauai triggered flooding in areas that were recovering from flooding due to heavy rains in April, including Morgan Ponds at Lydgate Beach Park.
Those ponds were inundated with logs, sticks and other flood debris that came downstream from Wailua River for the second time in five months.
“We cleaned it up then and we’ll make it right again,” said Anna Rudd, who joined cleanup efforts in April with the organization Friends of Kamalani and Lydgate.
The friends organization hosts weekly Saturday cleanups, but was overwhelmed with massive tree trunks and the other debris from the April flood.
The county’s parks department changed the game in April by contracting Kauai Veterans Express to bring in heavy equipment and pull out the debris. Then they took it to Kauai Nursery &Landscaping in Puhi for disposal and reuse.
For the second driftwood cleaning that started Wednesday, Kai Trucking is the contractor for the project, which comes with an $89,972 price tag.
“The department was able to move quickly on this matter to restore the facility for public use,” said director of Parks &Recreation Lenny Rapozo. “Additionally, the department did not sustain any other damages to other facilities that required immediate attention.”
Rudd said seeing those yellow machines pulling debris from the ponds again on Wednesday morning was a relief — there was just too much for the friends group to take on by themselves.
“It was a great feeling to see visitors and locals swimming in the ponds again after the April flood,” Rudd said. “For the county to step up again and help, it’s heartwarming.”
Noyes said planning took about two weeks before the contract was issued to remove the driftwood.
Morgan Ponds are two manmade, ocean-fed ponds tucked in the corner of Lydgate Beach Park and stocked with tropical fish. They’re a favorite for first-time snorkelers, swimmers and keiki.
Cleanup efforts will be ongoing in relation to the current Tropical Storm Olivia that’s passing through the islands, but also as a general weekly practice.
Volunteers are always welcome, Noyes said, and they’re needed to keep Lydgate Beach Park and Morgan Ponds clean for the community and visitors alike.
Oct. 20 is the upcoming Friends of Kamalani and Lydgate Make A Difference Day in Lydgate Park — a community workday that starts at 7:30 a.m. in the main pavilion.
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Jessica Else, environment reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or at jelse@thegardenisland.com.
Nice piece, Jessica. I loved lugging driftwood out of those ponds with my Dad. Good memories. Thanks to Tommy and all the valiant volunteers who take care of the park.
Jessica, good story, but it may need further investigation. Why this much debris coming from mauka after heavy rains? Wasn’t this much in the past. Are people along the river cutting trees and leaving it on the side for the heavy rains to take down stream? Any relation to the tree cutting going on up Loop Road?
This is a lot of money that tax payers have to dish out after every rain cycle.
Just a thought.
As I recall, a giant pile of sand appeared near the mouth of the Wailua @January 24 last year; and the Bay and surrounding areas were muddied for many weeks after. Did someone dredge the mouth of the Wailua, perhaps to take a large tour boat upstream for commercial use? Every January, the mouth of the Wailua is a trickle one can almost walk across, until rains and heavy water “blows it out”. Was this area dredged, and this is the result?
should be quite simple to determine where the opala is coming from. If the ends of the logs and branches are clean cut, like by a chainsaw, then its quite obvious. Isn’t it??!!