Kalapaki Beach remains offlimits to swimmers today, and will remain closed by state Department of Health officials until two consecutive clean water samples are drawn, according to county officials. Since samples are taken 24 hours apart, it may be the
Kalapaki Beach remains offlimits to swimmers today, and will remain closed by state Department of Health officials until two consecutive clean water samples are drawn, according to county officials.
Since samples are taken 24 hours apart, it may be the start of the new week before the beach reopens to swimmers, said Cyndi Mei Ozaki, county public information officer.
Heavy rains Wednesday caused a break in a main sewer line, and Aqua Engineers, Inc. crews were still trying to make repairs yesterday, as sewer lines were pumped to prevent even more sewage from making its way to Kalapaki, she said.
County Department of Public Works Division of Wastewater employees were notified early Wednesday morning that heavy rains created an “additional cavein” of a sink hole that materialized in a parking lot at the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club in Lihu‘e after the New Year’s Day storm.
That area was under repair last week, forcing the closure of one of the large parking lots near the hotel’s porte cochere.
County DPW Division of Wastewater employees and staffers with Aqua Engineers, a contractor with the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club, were at the site Wednesday and yesterday to assess the situation, and to begin repairs, according to Ozaki.
Tankers also were sent out to pump out sewage and to deposit it into a sewer manhole for treatment at the Lihu‘e sewage treatment plant.
Besides closing the beach, the breakage affected tenants at the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club, Anchor Cove and Harbor Mall.
The inclement weather caused the breakage, DPW Division of Wastewater leaders said.
Department of Health officials posted warning signs at Kalapaki Beach, instructing the public to keep out of the Kalapaki Bay waters, which likely received some untreated sewage.
Also Wednesday, a relief valve line at a county pump station at the old Coco Palms Hotel apparently malfunctioned, affecting sewage treatment for businesses in the Waipouli area for a time, according to Mel Matsumura, chief of the County of Kaua‘i DPW Division of Wastewater.
It was not know if Wednesday’s heavy rainfall, or combined heavy rains earlier this week, caused the malfunction or disabling of the equipment.
County officials were hiring a contractor to correct the problem, Matsumura said.
The heavy rains kept the Hanalei Bridge closed from 2 a.m. Wednesday until 7 p.m. Wednesday, after the Ha nalei River rose to dangerous levels, Kaua‘i Police Department officers said.
Closing the bridge prevents motorists from entering or leaving the North Shore, and essentially leaves residents of that area isolated. Kuhio Highway is the only road that leads to the area.
The Hanalei Bridge was closed after a stretch of road west of the bridge known as the “bamboo patch” became flooded with water from the river and taro fields found within the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge, which is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Police closed the bridge after waters rose to the sevenfoot mark as seen on a gauge near the bridge, said KPD Sgt. Sylvester Olivera, the acting district commander at the Hanalei police substation.
“The thing (the height of the river water) is going down, but it (the bridge) is still closed,” Olivera told The Garden Island Wednesday afternoon. “When we closed the bridge,” the gauge read seven feet. “It was about 11.3 feet (the river height), the highest we have seen in a while. Now it is 9.10 feet,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
The height of the river water started to drop Wednesday afternoon, but it went back up when the “tide (ocean water that makes its way up the river) started to go up,” Olivera said. The bridge was reopened when water conditions in the river return to normal, Olivera said.
Officials with the state Department of Education office on Kaua‘i decided to close Hanalei School Wednesday morning after being informed about the bridge’s closure, a county Civil Defense representative said. School was back in session yesterday.
The storm also created flooding that closed down Kamalu Road in Wailua Homesteads shortly after 2 a.m. Wednesday, creating traffic congestion in the area for a time before the road was reopened around 7:30 a.m., a county official said.
A few parts of Haua‘ala Road that lead to Keapana Valley in the Kawaihau District also were closed by flooding that made travel on the road unsafe, an official said.
During heavy spells of rain, water filled up ditches along both sides of Kuhio Highway from Hanama‘ulu to the Wailua Golf Course.
Kaua‘i police patrol cars, with overhead emergency lights flashing, were positioned so as to close portions of a northbound lane by the golf course that had been flooded out. Ponding also developed on portions of the golf course by the highway.
From 8 a.m. Monday, Jan. 31 through 8 a.m. yesterday, Wailua got 12.75 inches of rain, Hanalei had 9.15 inches, and Lihu‘e received 7.53 inches.
- Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 2453681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.
