HONOLULU (KHON2) — Maui County is urging Haiku residents to stay out of the area until at least morning, but some folks say they won’t even be able to get back home.
Mayor Mike Victorino said Kaupakalua Stream Bridge was destroyed.
There was also major damage on Kaupakalua Road near five corners. Residents say the road was newly paved, however, debris and tree branches folded into it after the storm. One resident said this is the main road and the quickest way to get back home. Now she will have to take alternative routes to get to her home, which could add minutes to her travel time.
“We see this every once and a while but as long as Ive been live in this area I’ve never seen it this close to home,” said Maya Vazquez.
She said her family had a bit of a scare during the bad weather. She had left her eldest son at home and had gone out to pick up her younger children from school when the storm hit.
“I get alerts that the Kaupakalua Dam is breached and it’s failing, and you know, I’ve got my (older) son at home. So, luckily my brother got a 4Runner was able to get to him and bring him safely out of this area,” said Vazquez. “We were kind of trapped in between (the flooding).”
Other residents in the Haiku area decided to stay in their homes, since they were on a hill or in an elevated area. For those people, much of the running water passed them and flooded nearby roads.
“The water is just coming from every direction – driveways from the back, driveways from the side, all heeding it, and it’s coming down from the road,” said Haiku resident Carlos Garcia. “As you can see from the video, the entire road is water so it’s pretty bad.”
He said it was a result of heavy rain for five straight hours.
“I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that in the 14 years I’ve been here.”
Carlos Garcia, Haiku Resident
He said he will wait until the morning to see what the damages are around his property and on the roads around Haiku.
