...THE HILO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 3 2008...
PRECIPITATION (IN)
YESTERDAY 9.44R 8.96 1968 0.30 9.14 0.00
MONTH TO DATE 23.08 0.90 22.18 0.28
SINCE DEC 1 54.84 21.14 33.70 19.17
SINCE JAN 1 37.28 10.64 26.64 12.51
_________________________________________________________________________________
...THE HILO CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 2 2008...
PRECIPITATION (IN)
YESTERDAY 10.82R 7.34 1969 0.30 10.52 0.03
MONTH TO DATE 13.64 0.60 13.04 0.28
SINCE DEC 1 45.40 20.84 24.56 19.17
SINCE JAN 1 27.84 10.34 17.50 12.51
____________________________________________________________________________
Floods Drown Part of the Big Island
By Olena Rubin
The Big Island is under a flash flood warning. The heavy run-offs have closed roads, brought down telephone poles and flooded homes.
Some areas like Waiakea Uka saw more rain in just one day then they would usually see during a whole month.
Roadways turned into rivers today on the big island.
"I don't know it all came down last night...tell everybody to just stay home,” a resident said.
Cars plowed through more than a foot of water as heavy rains continued throughout the day.
“So far we've had some homes flooded with several inches of water in the bottom floors,” Hawaii Island Fire Chief Glen Honda said.
According to Hawaii Island Fire officials homes in the Waiakea Uka area saw the most damage as a result of flash flooding.
“Department of public works has issued many sandbags we've actually ran out of a stash of sandbags and we try to get them to as many of the residences as we can,” Honda said.
Civil defense issued warnings to stay off the roads because of hazardous conditions...some of which caused several telephone poles to fall down.
“We did have earlier a pole and some communication lines come down in the Hakalau area but that has since been repaired,” Honda said.
The storm also kicked up rough seas.
“We couldn't go to Hilo because the ship couldn't dock because of the waves were so bad and it was too rough,” visitor from Philadelphia Eileen Handzus said.
All community events in Hilo, Puna and Ka'u were advised to cancel because of weather and safety concerns.
“As the rain continues we are worried that we will have some of our canal areas start to come over the banks but at this time none have done that yet,” Honda said.
Thunderstorms are likely tonight. Civil Defense asks that people stay indoors because of the potential for lightning.
Those needing assistance can seek shelter with the American Red Cross at the Puueo Community Center.
Story Updated: Feb 2, 2008 at 6:15 PM HST
