Ka Loko questions still unanswered by Rachel Gehrlein – THE GARDEN ISLAND One year after the March 14 Ka Loko Dam breach killed seven people, many questions are still unanswered, investigations are ongoing and lawsuits are awaiting trial. After 40
Ka Loko questions still unanswered
by Rachel Gehrlein – THE GARDEN ISLAND
One year after the March 14 Ka Loko Dam breach killed seven people, many questions are still unanswered, investigations are ongoing and lawsuits are awaiting trial.
After 40 days of near-constant rain bloated the Ka Loko Reservoir, the dam breached, releasing more than 400 million gallons of water down the Wailapa Stream, washing away three homes owned by Bruce and Cyndee Fehring and their trust.
The Fehrings lost their daughter, son-in-law, grandson and four of their friends staying on the property in the breach. The question as to whether the homes on their property were permitted has come up in ongoing investigations, the findings of which will have bearing on more than 20 lawsuits stemming from the tragedy.
Fehring has filed a wrongful death lawsuit and a property damage lawsuit.
Kaua‘i County officials found no building violations connected with the three buildings that were swept away.
A five-month independent study on the disaster was conducted by Deputy Attorney General Robert Godbey and was deemed faulty by William McCorriston, attorney for landowner James Pflueger.
The study investigated the reasons as to why the dam failed and documented a timeline of events concerning Pflueger, the Kilauea Irrigation Company and the Department of Land and Natural Resources leading up the breach.
According to the study, the DLNR, the lead state agency for the regulation and inspection of dams in Hawai‘i, made many unsuccessful attempts to contact Pflueger regarding a visual inspection of the dam and other work Pflueger had done to the property.
The KIC had issues with Pflueger for turning off the water and making access to the system difficult.
McCorriston said Pflueger can’t be held accountable for loss of life or damages because KIC had the sole responsibility of maintaining the dam, the irrigation system and the spillway.
Though many of the details that came out in the independent report seem to indicate culpability, Godbey stated, that is not the case. “That is what litigation is for,” he stated in the footnotes of the report.
Nearly all of 2009 has been set aside to hear the Ka Loko civil cases.
