Heavy rains made the flowers happy on Tuesday afternoon, but it meant even more traffic and a power outage in the Wailua and Kapa’a area. The power outage was caused by a lightning strike to the Kapa’a transformer about 1:15
Heavy rains made the flowers happy on Tuesday afternoon, but it meant even more traffic and a power outage in the Wailua and Kapa’a area.
The power outage was caused by a lightning strike to the Kapa’a transformer about 1:15 p.m.
“It was a fluke,” said Ed Nakaya, Kaua’i Electric energy services specialist. Kaua’i Electric crews had to replace fuses, and by about 2 p.m. KE crews were finished the job.
Electricity was out near Ka’apuni and Olohena Roads, but not because of the Kapa’a substation problem, Nakaya said. Crews found a fallen tree branch that brought down two overhead lines. The lines had to be completely replaced because there was no way to reroute power, and service was restored by about 4 p.m., Nakaya said.
The rain gauge for Kapahi and Wailua recorded just one-tenth of an inch and the two Lihu’e gauges (near Wailua Falls and Lihue Airport) recorded about a half-inch of rain. In spite of the low rainfall counts, roads were being closed for flooding and the National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for Kaua’i about 1 p.m. after radar indicated heavy rain over Kapa’a and Wailua.
Pat Leahy, National Weather Service meteorological technician, said that rain gauges probably weren’t accurate in the areas of the power outages because they run on electricity.
“Unfortunately, the weather has played humbug,” Nakaya said.
