WAILUA — Carlton Choy lives on Kamalu Road and has reason to worry about the upcoming weekend. The National Weather Service is forecasting rain on Kauai starting Friday. Although not expected to bring thunderstorms, the front could produce some heavy
WAILUA — Carlton Choy lives on Kamalu Road and has reason to worry about the upcoming weekend.
The National Weather Service is forecasting rain on Kauai starting Friday. Although not expected to bring thunderstorms, the front could produce some heavy downpours.
“Every time it rains, I worry,” said Choy, whose Wailua home was flooded Sunday following overnight rains. “This is the fifth time we’ve flooded since Valentine’s Day.”
The county closed a portion of Kamalu Road Sunday afternoon while Public Works crew responded by pumping the accumulated water surrounding Choy’s property to across Kamalu Road where it could drain.
That’s been a familiar sight for Choy, who has grown accustomed to flood recovery after nearly every downpour.
“This started when the culvert on Kamalu Road broke,” Choy said. “It was an ancient Hawaiian one, but during the year Ka Loko breached, the culvert also broke.”
He said the county responded by placing a smaller culvert in the broken culvert, telling him it was just a temporary measure until a more permanent solution could be done.
Seven years later, he’s still waiting.
“Seven years,” Choy said. “We’ve had discussions with engineers and other people from the county. The culvert is still broken, and every time it rains, we flood.”
Choy said last week a county crew repaired the dip where the culvert sits. He thinks that might have aggravated the damaged culvert even more, creating the flood which took place Sunday following showers.
“We lost another car,” Choy said. “The water was up to the door handles, and now the car will have to be towed away. I can’t get to work because my driveway is under water, and there was mud everywhere.”
He said last year, a tenant lost a car when the water rose so quickly, they did not have time to move the car.
Larry Dill, county engineer, said the replacement of the Kamalu Road culvert is a capital improvement project the county is trying to address.
“We empathize with the homeowner’s situation,” Dill said in an email. “We are doing our best to expedite this project.”
Dill said the culvert replacement is in the design phase and once completed, the county will seek bids for construction of the culvert this summer.
In the meantime, the weather front is still forecast to move down the island chain this weekend.
• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
