With the island still drying out after days of heavy rains, officials yesterday agreed the county’s response to flash flood warnings and related emergencies went well, even with the physical absence of Mayor Bernard Carvalho.
Carvalho, who was working with Gov. Linda Lingle on economic plans on Friday and Monday afternoons, and Administrative Assistant Gary Heu were both on O‘ahu during Saturday’s deluge, leaving Finance Director Wally Rezentes Jr. as the highest-ranking member of the administration and putting him into duty as acting mayor.
Rezentes, who said he was in communication with Carvalho and Heu “at all times,” and Civil Defense Agency administrator Mark Marshall took the lead in running the county’s Emergency Operations Center, which was activated from 2 a.m. until 8 p.m. Saturday.
The group at the EOC communicated with the National Weather Service and managed Police Department, Fire Department and Department of Public Works response activities.
“Basically, the response was coordinated, and we’re lucky to have a group of people in the EOC that have gone through similar instances,” said Rezentes, who noted he’d served as acting mayor for a storm during Maryanne Kusaka’s term. “I think it went rather smoothly, actually.”
Executive Assistant Beth Tokioka, who also represented Carvalho’s administration in the EOC, agreed.
“To me, I thought it went well. Every incident is different and you have to react based on what’s going on,” she said. “It seemed to have been a pretty orderly kind of disposition of assets and moving things around and reacting to things as they came in.”
That response included road closures at the Hanalei Bridge, Mailihuna and Keaka roads in Kapa‘a, Kukui‘ula Bypass Road, Kekaha Road between Kala Road and Io Road, and Hanapepe Road at Kaumauali‘i Highway, as well as lane closures at Kalihiwai Bridge and on Anini Beach Road, and cleaning, pumping and repairing required for a sewage spill along Waialo Road near ‘Ele‘ele Shopping Center.
Marshall said he was largely pleased with how things went, noting the only “bugaboo” was the county’s response to a rare tornado warning.
He said he had never dealt with a tornado warning during eight years on Kaua‘i and 16 more on the Big Island, and that the county had little time to react after the National Weather Service declared the warning after skipping over a tornado alert and a tornado watch, lower-level advisories.
National Weather Service forecaster Bob Burke said yesterday tornado warnings are “pretty rare” for Hawai‘i, the last one coming in 2006 near Lana‘i. He was unable to determine the last tornado warning that had been in effect for Kaua‘i.
Marshall said the county has received some criticism regarding its decision to not sound emergency sirens, explaining there are “no excuses” and that the county will “do better next time.”
“It’s always a tossup between overwarning, crying wolf, and keeping people out of harm’s way. It’s always a wrestling match to figure out how to best serve the public,” he said yesterday. “We weren’t able to react to it fast enough. By the time we figured out an appropriate response, the event was over.”
Heu said yesterday he thought the response was managed well, that he was “proud” and that the “situation was in good hands,” but also that the tornado warning caught the staff “off guard.”
“There are always things you come out of looking back, ‘here’s an area of opportunity for us,’ and I think we’ve identified a few of those,” Heu said.
Carvalho spent a portion of yesterday visiting flooded and flood damaged properties on the island’s Westside, according to Tokioka. In a release, she reported the county has received nearly 40 calls from residents reporting damage to homes and businesses from the heavy rains that occurred over the weekend with the estimated damage approaching $2 million.
Civil Defense continues to urge the public to call in their damage reports to 241-1800 as soon as possible.
While the heavy storm may have been Carvalho’s baptism by fire, it will certainly not be the last emergency he faces.
“It is the rainy season,” Marshall said, “and we anticipate going into a watch-warning situation for flash floods maybe a dozen times between October and March, if past history is any indication.”
