If you went to a holiday party this weekend, chances are you should thank a member of a state or county road crew for helping you get there. With anywhere from five inches to nearly a foot of rain falling
If you went to a holiday party this weekend, chances are you should thank a member of a state or county road crew for helping you get there.
With anywhere from five inches to nearly a foot of rain falling over the weekend, state and county workers spent their holidays cleaning and removing debris so the roads from Kekaha to Ke‘e Beach were passable.
And just because the rain ended doesn’t mean work for state and county crews is done, officials said yesterday.
Thanks to excessive storm water pushing sewage into the streets and into the ocean, Waimea beaches were closed yesterday, and Kalapaki Beach remains closed.
Excessive storm water caused sewage to overflow through sewer manholes in the Waimea area, county Department of Public Works officials said, closing low-lying areas of Ala Wai Road as well. And officials were unsure when the beaches and the road would re-open.
Meanwhile, it could take weeks for state highway crews to finish the pothole repair, debris removal, and some grading in uneven areas, thanks to the heavy runoff.
It could take “a good portion of January to get through all of this,” said Steve Kyono, who heads the state Department of Transportation Highways Division office on Kaua‘i.
But it was the work this weekend, both by state DOT crews on the highways and by county DPW crews on county roads, that kept Kaua‘i’s roads open at the height of the heavy weather.
“I was so impressed and so grateful for the work that they do,” Ladye Martin, deputy county engineer, said of the county crews who were out all weekend. “These guys worked their hearts out.
“They really put their hearts into insuring the roads were safe for the public,” said Martin. “As reports came in on Saturday, we had worries about the health and safety of people and property.”
Both state and county crews were out Friday and Saturday, in the pouring rain, clearing mudslides, branches, silt, and large boulders along Kaua‘i roads, keeping them from flooding. Kaua‘i Police Department officers were busy controlling traffic to expedite the cleanup process.
For the two state roadway crews, Kyono said a huge boulder that fell on Kuhio Highway in Kalihiwai, “in excess of six to eight tons,” was one of the biggest jobs of the weekend.
But various mudslides kept the crews running from job to job, he said. The work was so great in areas that the state hired private contractors for some emergency jobs.
As for the county crews, “they moved so efficiently and quickly that major catastrophe was averted,” Martin said. The flooding on Olohena Road “was some of the most extensive we’ve ever seen.”
Martin specifically thanked district road overseers Pat Rapozo, Pat Shimamoto and Ken Morikawa and their crews for their hard work, as well as acting roads supervisor Al Afos.
According to National Weather Service rain gauges from around the island, rainfall totals between 8 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 30 and 8 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 2, ranged from 4.5 inches in Wainiha to 11.73 inches on Mt. Wai‘ale‘ale (please see the accompanying chart).
Rain gauges recorded 10.1 inches in Wailua, 9.53 inches in Anahola, and 7.89 inches in ‘Oma‘o.
Tom Finnegan, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mailto:tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
