Burt Nishida of ‘Ele‘ele said when they saw the river recede, they knew the water was going to come over the seawall at the Port Allen Small Boat Harbor. “We saw the Hanapepe River go out and by the amount
Burt Nishida of ‘Ele‘ele said when they saw the river recede, they knew the water was going to come over the seawall at the Port Allen Small Boat Harbor.
“We saw the Hanapepe River go out and by the amount it was sucked out, the waves were going to go over the seawall,” Nishida said, surveying the goings on at the harbor, Friday morning. “We got here about 7 a.m. and the water was being sucked out, already. By 7:30 a.m., the harbor was under water.”
Outside of the debris, everything was fine, said Bill Georgi, walking his dog and picking his way among the debris littering the access road to the boat slips.
“But you have to see the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources Boating and Ocean Recreation Division people trying to fish out the trash dumpster,” Georgi said. “It washed from the loading area all the way to the sea wall.”
Chad Kubo, skipper of the “Que Sera,” a fishing boat, said the trash container was in between the catwalks at one point. “The water was about five feet above the catwalk.”
He indicated the height by his arm above chest-level.
“At one point, the boats were floating above the catwalk because there was so much water,” he said. “Our fish boxes which were on the catwalk got washed all the way to the seawall.”
Joe Borden of the DLNR Boating and Ocean Recreation Division said he had already gone to the Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor where he described the situation as being wet.
“At least it’s clean water,” he said after getting help from boat owners and fishermen in pulling the dumpster out of the water. “Things look pretty good over here.”
At the Port Allen Fishing Club clubhouse, Carol and Ed Horner had just returned their boat from the Martin Steele yard where the craft rode out the tsunami watch.
“There were a lot of people either pulling their boats from the water, or taking them out to sea to ride out the warning,” Carol said. “The water came up, all the way to about five, or six inches on the walls of the clubhouse. Ed is hosing down the back, now.”
Ed said the idea was to hose down the debris before it hardened so it would be easier to wash off.
At the Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor in Waimea, there was indication of a surge, but no signs the water had risen above the catwalk.
Some of the guests from the Waimea Plantation Cottages joined the residents at Koke‘e while others spent the night at the Waimea High School cafeteria, a holding site on the Westside, said Stephanie Iona, manager of the Waimea Plantation Cottages.
“We want to thank the Westside residents for embracing our guests and making them feel like part of the family,” Iona said. “Our president went up to the Koke‘e Lodge to open it up for our guests and others either joined the line of cars on the road to Koke‘e or went to the cafeteria.”
She said the Waimea Plantation Cottage staff was really good about making sure the guests had hot coffee, bottled water, and kept reminding them to bring the blankets from their rooms because of the chill.
“Our security person stayed on property the entire time,” Iona said. “The police were really good — they kept coming to make sure everyone was taken care of.”
She said she left for about an hour just before 3 a.m. and when she returned to check in returning guests, they told her how everyone treated them as part of the family.
