HONOLULU (KHON2) — It was a stressful day for many Waialua residents as the Wahiawa Reservoir continued to rise throughout Friday.
Stream gauges slightly dropped, but there was concern from residents all night in lower elevations that the spillover would flood their homes.
Otake Camp residents along the Kaukonahua Stream had a sleepless night worrying that the reservoir upstream would overflow and rush down to their homes.
Some Waialua residents said they had never seen the stream this high before.
“This is a good amount of water flowing through this river right now,” said Peter Luangarth, Waialua resident. “I’m concerned someone will get hurt and probably a lot of people in the neighborhood know to evacuate and whatnot.”
On Friday, police officers were seen telling residents along the stream to be prepared just in case.
“They said they were concerned about the level of the dam and whether it can handle the amount of water in there,” said Johann, a resident.
He called his roommate and told him to come home and get a to-go kit ready just in case. Police and security were seen coming and going throughout the day.
“The concern is that once the water reaches 82 feet, that water will start to come down the spillway and Otake Camp will start to flood,” said Rep. Sean Quinlan (D) Waialua, Haleiwa, and Kaaawa.
The City said they have been monitoring the situation all night into today with Dole, who manages the reservoir.
“At the 80-foot mark on the gauge, that’s when it reaches the spillway, which is designed as sort of a relief valve for the dam to make sure that that water doesn’t get to a dangerously high level. So that feature worked as designed,” said Emergency Management Director, Hiro Toiya.
They said evacuations could be prompted once it reaches around 84 feet but the stream has started to come down ever so slightly.
“It actually didn’t reach the level that would even want a notification from the owner to emergency management,” Toiya added.
Following the 2021 Haleiwa flooding, others said more focus should be on stream maintenance moving forward.
“We know the history of that. The more it goes unattended, that we don’t address stream maintenance and rivers, we’re looking at mass destruction at some point,” explained Racquel Achiu Hill, North Shore Neighborhood Board Vice Chair. “The storms get worse, more intense and less longer, and we are looking at a major problem.”
Quinlan said Governor Green called him last night about the situation and reminded him that all resources would be available if needed.