A not-so-swell swell; Surge floods parks in Keaukaha, dumps debris onto roadways

Large, northwesterly swells shut down beach parks on Hawaii Island’s northeast coast and forced the closure of a section of Kalanianaole Avenue in Keaukaha early Wednesday morning.

The entire state on Wednesday remained under a small craft advisory, and north- and west-facing shores were under a high surf warning. The warning, issued by the National Weather Service, predicted surf heights of between 20 and 30 feet along north-facing shores and heights of 15 to 20 feet along west-facing shores, with peak surf conditions possibly coinciding with high tides.

That combination of high tide and large waves hit the Keaukaha area hard, with the stretch of Kalanianaole remaining closed until about 2 p.m. as county crews removed debris and driftwood from the street, said John Drummond, an administrative officer with Hawaii County Civil Defense.

“Kalanianaole was closed from Kioea Street to Kolea Street and redirected down Nene Street. I got the call around 3:15 a.m., and it was closed by that time,” he said.

Beach parks including Onekahakaha, Richardson, Leleiwi, Carlsmith, Kealoha, Coconut Island and Lehia were all impacted, with some parking lot and grass areas remaining under water late Wednesday morning. However, no major structural damage was reported, said Hawaii County Department of Parks and Recreation spokesman Jason Armstrong.

“We did have some trash cans and picnic tables hit by the surf, and the waves pushed them around,” he said.

At the Lehia park area at the end of the dirt road off of Kalanianaole, large concrete barriers weighing several hundred pounds apiece also were pushed around by the heavy surf, Armstrong said. The dirt road also was littered with boulders, driftwood and other debris which was thrown up onto the road, over the 4-foot rock wall separating the area from the water.

All of the parks remained closed Wednesday, except for Onekahakaha, which was reopened around 3 p.m.

“We hope to open all these parks (Thursday),” Armstrong said. “We don’t know what will happen (Wednesday night), as high surf is expected to continue. We thank people for their patience and their understanding, but we have to make the parks safe, and we’re not sure what Mother Nature has in store for us.”

October is typically the month when winter weather patterns bring larger waves from the northwest, said National Weather Service forecaster Derek Wroe. But on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, the swells came from a slightly less typical direction, creating problems for East Hawaii.

“It’s the beginning of the season, and we usually see an increase in northwesterly swells, and then we see that peak during the middle of the winter,” he said. “Usually the swells come from the northwest, but this one was from a more northerly direction, which created more impacts on windward Big Island, because there was more exposure.”

During a normal northwestern swell pattern, Maui and Molokai can serve to buffer much of the Big Island from wave energy, he said.

Hilo’s Bayfront largely escaped the impacts of the swells, because the Hamakua Coast blocked much of the wave energy from entering the bay, he added.

West Hawaii was not impacted, he said, although that is likely to change today.

“The next (swell) that is coming, that will start building during the day Thursday, and by the end of (Thursday) night. It will switch back (Thursday) to a more typical northwesterly direction, so they’ll be feeling the impacts on the west side,” Wroe said.

Heavy surf was a problem across the island chain this week, with a fisherman dying Tuesday off Oahu after being swept into the sea by a large wave at the Moi Hole at Kaena Point State Park, according to media reports. Also Tuesday, a 33-foot sailboat ran aground on the rocks on the west side of Hanalei Bay.

Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.