Rains that blanketed the island for the past several days claimed another victim Friday.
When a wind advisory was tacked onto the already bleak National Weather Service forecast, the safety factor overcame the desire to keep the Lights on Rice parade and the opening ceremony for the Festival of Lights on schedule.
According to the NWS advisory, west and southwest winds will increase through the day and the advisory was in effect until 6 p.m.
The NWS report states “radar showed persistent heavy showers moving over Kaua‘i from the West. Although moving quickly, the showers are intense while they last and created conditions of low visibility and ponding of water.” That prompted the NWS to keep a flood advisory in effect until 6 p.m. as well.
The Kaua‘i Museum Christmas craft fair was shrouded with tarps and tenting as shoppers braved the inclement weather to take advantage of the offerings of the vendors who were there despite the bad
“Business has been very good,” said Carol Lovell, director of the Kaua‘i Museum. “Several of the vendors said they were past their projections within the first hour of business.”
However, she agreed that cancelling the parade was a good idea because of the safety for all concerned. She noted that once the daylight fades, she’ll reassess the situation because of the amount of water on the saturated ground. That creates an electrical hazard for the workers, she said.
“We’ll try to keep it open for as long as we can, but it’s always been safety first,” Lovell said. The craft fair was scheduled to be open until 8 p.m.
Elizabeth Freeman, head of the Festival of Lights, agreed, noting that the opening ceremony will be postponed until a later date when the weather turns more favorable.
“We might send some people down to have the lights on, just because there may be people wanting to enjoy them,” she said.
Over at Wilcox Hospital where its staff was emerging from a holiday luncheon, the crew that assembled their float made final adjustments before plugging in.
“We were all ready to go,” said Jessie Obiano. “We were telling people, ‘See you at the stadium.’”
But he agreed that safety was paramount and despite their unit being able to withstand winds, other units might be suscepticle to wind.
Obiano said the hospital crew worked Thursday night to assemble the unit in one of the garages, and since it was already put together, he and Julie Akita arranged to have it “fired up” so other people could enjoy it before they disassembled the unit.
“This is the float that wasn’t,” one worker said. “But at least we get to have our own parade.”
Inside the lobby, a donated Christmas tree from Wal-Mart and decorated by the hospital’s auxiliary members forms the focal point of a display of other trees decorated by the hospital’s departments.
“This is the first year we’re doing this tree decorating, but it went over so well, I think we’ll do this every year,” Lani Yukimura, the hospital’s community relations officer, said.
“The employees of the different departments had so much enthusiasm and fun in getting the trees decorated.”
Yukimura said the trees will be on display in the hospital lobby through at least Jan. 4, and the public is invited to view the work of the hospital’s staff.
