LIHU‘E — Nancy Soppeland was resting in bed at her Ha‘ena home early Friday morning when at least one four-inch-by-four-inch piece of wood came crashing through the roof of the lanai around six feet away, said Mark Soppeland, her husband.
No one was injured, but Nancy Soppeland was shaken up by the ordeal, said Mark Soppeland.
“It was pretty scary,” Mark Soppeland said.
Soppeland, a landscape and excavation contractor who has lived in the Ha‘ena home makai of Kuhio Highway for 23 years and does some work for the National Tropical Botanical Garden’s Limahuli Garden mauka of the highway, said a load of lumber for an NTBG restoration project in Limahuli Valley transported by a helicopter got caught in windy conditions and was spinning when pieces of lumber were dislodged from the load.
The Kaua‘i Police Department announced later, however, that a helicopter company under contract with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources was moving construction materials via a sling load from Ha‘ena to Kalalau Valley.
The lumber came crashing through the roof of Soppeland’s lanai, damaging the roof and doing some damage to the lanai itself, he said.
Dr. David Burney, NTBG director of conservation, confirmed what Soppeland said, but denied that the helicopter was flying over any homes in the area.
“We never do that,” he said.
Burney said the helicopter was not over any homes, but that when the wood came loose it traveled a great distance because of the wind, with one piece ending up crashing through Soppeland’s lanai roof.
Another piece was found in bushes, and a third piece in Soppeland’s yard, said Burney.
But Soppeland said before and after the incident the helicopter flew right over his house, the noise of the helicopter audible during the telephone interview.
“Gosh that was close,” he said during one of the earlier helicopter passes, which he said was low and directly over his home shortly before the wood came crashing through his roof.
There was a “huge crashing noise” around 8 a.m. during windy, overcast conditions, he said.
Soppeland said NTBG workers said they would fix his lanai, possibly as early as today.
“My concern is I don’t want to see anyone get hurt or more damage,” said Soppeland, a bit surprised that the helicopter kept flying near his house even after the incident.
“He’s really close. It’s definitely blustery, there’s no two ways about it.”
The garden has a restoration project underway in Limahuli Valley, and routinely flies workers, equipment and materials up the valley in helicopters, said Soppeland.
The NTBG Web site, ntbg.org, describes the restoration project as involving planting and maintaining native Hawaiian plant-restoration sites, invasive-species removal and trail maintenance.
Burney reiterated that the pilot, Jim Hobbs of Airborne Aviation, was not flying over any homes during the “routine operation. It was just kind of a freak situation. It was a scary situation.
“We don’t fly over houses. We do not fly over houses,” though some people might think they do because of the helicopter noise, said Burney.
KPD estimated the damage at $2,000.
