HAUULA, Oahu — Remnants of a broken-up tropical storm brought rainy weather to Hawaii over the weekend, flooding windward Oahu homes and affecting areas of the Big Island and Kauai.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Monday that water rose about 13 inches inside Holly Smith’s Hauula home, causing about $100,000 in damages.
“It was actually bubbling up through the termite holes, so it was up under the foundation of the house, coming in through the walls of the house,” Smith said. “It just kept getting higher and higher.”
Honolulu fire officials received 13 flood calls in 36 hours, Capt. David Jenkins said.
Jenkins said firefighters had to rescue a woman and her son after their vehicle was flooded.
Windward Oahu got most of the rains left over from a dissipated storm, about one foot over 24 hours, weather officials said. Over the same period, parts of Maui and the Big Island got 3 inches.
Lightning damaged equipment at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on the Big Island on Saturday night and prompted the closure of a Kauai landfill, National Weather Service officials said.
“It came off the mountain so hard and so fast that it got everybody by surprise,” Smith said. “The water was 5 feet deep out in the middle of the street in front of my house. There was just no way to stop it.”