Kaua‘i is still mopping up

The two days of rain on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day lifted the pier at the Fern Grotto an estimated 30 feet from its normal perch along the Wailua River, and only extraordinary effort on the part of Smith’s Motor Boat Service owners and employees kept the barges operating New Year’s Day.

“It’s a mess, all wrecked,” said Walter “Freckles” Smith, president of Smith’s Motor Boat Service.

Smith’s family members and other employees had to hack over half of the pier with chain saws to salvage about one third of the pier, and create a makeshift landing to allow tours on Sunday, said Smith and his son, Kamika Smith.

“One third of the pier is left, and I haven’t seen anybody from the state around,” said the elder Smith, talking about the absence of any officials from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of State Parks.

Kamika Smith, though, said a DLNR carpenter did go up to the grotto yesterday to survey the damage.

Still, the elder Smith was frustrated. State officials are spending lots of money making public areas compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, constructing wheelchair ramps and other improvements at both the Wailua Marina and Fern Grotto, and “for what?” the elder Smith asked.

Kamika Smith was a bit more pragmatic, saying it was a lot to expect state crews to respond on a holiday that was a Saturday, or on the following Sunday.

“It must have been really turbulent,” said Kamika Smith, estimating that the piers were pushed about 30 feet up toward the grotto from where they were before the storm. Two pieces of the pier were still sitting in the vegetation yesterday, waiting for a decision from state officials on whether to fix the pier or take the pieces away, he said.

State DLNR Division of State Parks Kaua‘i administrator Wayne Souza could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.