Current:Home > StocksHeavy rain across Kauai prompts rescues from floodwater, but no immediate reports of injuries -EquityExchange
Heavy rain across Kauai prompts rescues from floodwater, but no immediate reports of injuries
View
Date:2025-04-16 05:50:17
HONOLULU (AP) — Several people on the Hawaiian island of Kauai needed to be rescued from floodwaters during heavy rain, authorities said Friday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
Heavy rain beginning Thursday afternoon prompted the closure of public schools Friday across Kauai and the opening of shelters. Crews worked Friday to reopen various roads closed from landslides, leaning utility poles and overflowing stream waters.
Firefighters were busy Thursday night rescuing people, primarily in the communities of Koloa and Wailua, Kauai Emergency Management Administrator Elton Ushio said. He did not yet have an estimate of many people needed to be rescued or evacuated. But he noted that there was a report of 4 feet (1.22 meters) of water in at least one house.
“And these are residential areas where at first the water was starting to rise up, and then it started approaching, you know, getting up to the lower level of the houses in several cases, getting up and into the houses themselves, where people needed to be, you know, taken out of those houses,” he said.
Kauai residents are used to rain, and this event wasn’t as bad as rainstorms in in 2018 that generated a national 24-hour rainfall record, Ushio said.
Kauai is “one of the wettest spots on Earth, in terms of annual rainfall,” he said. “All our lush valleys, deep canyons ... it’s because of the rainfall we get.”
The rain’s intensity was from 6 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday, with several locations seeing more than 10 inches (25.4 centimeters), according to the National Weather Service.
Rainfall at Lihue airport — the island’s only official record-keeping station — broke a 1996 record with 3.65 inches (9.27 centimeters) for Thursday, said Derek Wroe, a meteorologist in the weather service’s Honolulu office.
That record would likely be broken again for Friday, based on the more than 11 inches (27.94 centimeters) recorded during the 12-hour period from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. at Lihue airport, Wroe said.
The rain tapered off after sunrise Friday, but heavy showers were expected Saturday night into Sunday morning, bringing more threat of flooding, he said.
veryGood! (243)
Related
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- Colorado Settlement to Pay Solar Owners Higher Rates for Peak Power
- Shift to Clean Energy Could Save Millions Who Die From Pollution
- Some states are restricting abortion. Others are spending millions to fund it
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- U.S. Energy Outlook: Sunny on the Trade Front, Murkier for the Climate
- Intermittent fasting may be equally as effective for weight loss as counting calories
- California Farm Bureau Fears Improvements Like Barns, and Even Trees, Will Be Taxed Under Prop. 15
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- Locust Swarms, Some 3 Times the Size of New York City, Are Eating Their Way Across Two Continents
Ranking
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- 'We're not doing that': A Black couple won't crowdfund to pay medical debt
- In post-Roe Texas, 2 mothers with traumatic pregnancies walk very different paths
- Overdose deaths involving street xylazine surged years earlier than reported
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- Shop Amazing Deals From J. Crew's Memorial Day Sale: 75% Off Trendy Dresses, Swimwear & More
- Here's your chance to buy Princess Leia's dress, Harry Potter's cloak and the Batpod
- Q&A: A Harvard Expert on Environment and Health Discusses Possible Ties Between COVID and Climate
Recommendation
California DMV apologizes for license plate that some say mocks Oct. 7 attack on Israel
Rush to Nordstrom Rack's Clear the Rack Sale to Get $18 Vince Camuto Heels, $16 Free People Tops & More
Half the World’s Sandy Beaches May Disappear by Century’s End, Climate Study Says
Wayfair's Memorial Day Sale 2023 Has 82% Off Dyson, Blackstone & More Incredible Deals for Under $100
Friday the 13th luck? 13 past Mega Millions jackpot wins in December. See top 10 lottery prizes
Checking in on the Cast of Two and a Half Men...Men, Men, Men, Manly Men
They tried and failed to get an abortion. Texas family grapples with what it'll mean
Titan sub implosion highlights extreme tourism boom, but adventure can bring peril