KILAUEA — Heavy rains that have pounded the North Shore are continuing to cause major problems.
Traffic continued to be delayed Saturday afternoon at the site of Friday’s landslide on Kuhio Highway just south of the Kalihiwai Bridge.
Shelly Kunishige with the Hawaii Department of Transportation said because crews were still removing debris from behind the barrier where the landslide occurred, contraflow remained in place.
Kunishige reported that as of 3 p.m. Saturday, the work in Kalihiwai between Kilauea and Princeville is mainly rock scaling.
“The contractor climbs the hillside, knocks down loose material, and our crew removes it,” Kunishige wrote in an email. “This is done to mitigate the chances of future landslides in the area. They can only knock down the loose material when there are no approaching cars so they are intermittently stopping traffic.”
According to HDOT, the plan is to work until nightfall and then reopen both lanes.
Additional work could be needed today.
The landslide was the fourth in three weeks on the North Shore. There were no reports of injuries.
It occurred about 5 p.m. and took until just before midnight when both lanes were opened temporarily. Until then, traffic was allowed through intermittently, but it was slow going as debris was removed.
Some stuck in the line of vehicles expressed some frustration with posts to HDOT’s Facebook site.
“We’ve gone two miles in 2 hours. Maybe the contraflow should let more people through at a time,” wrote one HDOT Facebook commenter.
“Just got through! Originally was supposed to arrive back in Poipu by 8:30 p.m., including a 20-minute delay. Now will arrive by 11:30 p.m.,” posted another commenter at 10:35.
“Road is open with no sign of any workers and no update on here or the county page. Weird. Still looks like a big mess though. More rain next week!” wrote Jeremy.
Heavy rains led to Hanalei School being closed Thursday and Friday. The Hanalei Bridge was closed three times Wednesday and Thursday.
There have been three recent landslides on the North Shore.
There were two landslides in Wainiha on Feb. 23 within a few hours of each other that took two full days to clear, and prevented many residents from traveling to work. Another one Thursday at mile marker 5 took a few hours to clear.
HDOT has been working to stabilize the hillsides in the area.
“Our Kauai District is preparing a scope of work for a slope stabilization project at this location,” Tim Sakahara, DOT spokesman, told TGI.
Guardrail replacement is proposed as part of the project, which is still being formulated.
It has been raining a lot.
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s automated rain gauge at Mount Waialeale reported more than 14 inches of rainfall in a 24-hour period on Wednesday.
Over the 24-hour period ending at 2 p.m. Thursday, Lihue Airport had received 1.5 inches of rain according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. During that same time period, Hanalei reported 1.6 inches, Kapahi reported 4.3 inches, Poipu was at 1.6 inches and Waimea Heights reported 4.4 inches.
More rain is in the forecast early this week.
