LIHUE — Weather wise, the month of December started with a bang for the Garden Isle. While huge portions of the Lower 48 began preparing for bitter cold temperatures and heavy snowfall from Winter Storm Cleon, the Islands said aloha
LIHUE — Weather wise, the month of December started with a bang for the Garden Isle.
While huge portions of the Lower 48 began preparing for bitter cold temperatures and heavy snowfall from Winter Storm Cleon, the Islands said aloha to their own wet-weather system.
On Kauai, more than a dozen inches of rain soaked Mount Waialeale within a 24-hour period ending Sunday morning. The system also brought with it flash flooding, road closures, landslides and, for the second time in a month, a Brown Water Advisory for all north- and east-facing shores.
The advisory, which remains in effect from Nawiliwili to Hanalei, was issued by the state Department of Health’s Clean Water Branch late Sunday.
“If coastal waters are turbid and brown, stay out,” the alert stated.
On the Westside, 6.27 inches fell at Makaha Ridge and 7.26 inches at Mana in a 24-hour period. Other totals included 8 inches at Waialae, 7.75 at Blue Hole and 7.26 at Kilohana. Poipu recorded 4.33 during the one-day span, while Anahola came in at 4.54, Hanalei at 4.04, Lihue Airport at 3.81 and Kalaheo at 3.76.
To put the weekend’s massive storm into perspective, less than 4 inches of rain fell in Lihue the entire month of November according to the NWS.
A pair of landslides shortly after midnight Monday rattled Menehune Road, just north of the Waimea Swinging Bridge, shutting down the roadway on the Westside and causing water and power outages in the area.
The landslides occurred 100 feet from each other, causing several large boulders, trees and mud to fall along the roadway and surrounding areas, according to a county release.
