Hawaii residents still cleaning up from storm, flooding damage
By Jeremy Lee
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KIHEI, Hawaii (KITV) — Cones still line the roadways in Maui Meadows where floodwaters carried off chunks of asphalt and other debris.
“Water [was] coming down the hill with enough force to hit this retaining wall. And according to our neighbor the water was breaking up over the mailbox,” said Maui resident Steve Williams.
Williams’ neighbor, Dan Coleman, saw the family Toyota van get the worst of it the night of Dec. 5, as a powerful Kona Low storm system pounded the Hawaiian Islands with torrential rain.
“The water was coming down here with so much force, eventually it just swept it right away,” Coleman said. “It ended up in the middle of the street, about 150 yards”.
Days later, Coleman took a break from disaster assessment and enjoyed a moment of levity in his muck filled swimming pool. Then he set off to drain the muddy waters.
“We ended up renting a big trash pump, 10 horse power. And it sucked this pool dry in about 3 and a half hours and had to bucket the last 100 gallon of mud and muck and stuff out of there,” Coleman said.
Maui Meadows took a bad hit from the storm after floodwaters from higher ground took an unprecedented path. That brought in residue, not advisable to swim in…
“It actually smells like feces. It may have come from the ranch upcountry. I don’t know where it all came from– it’s gonna be some good fertilizer here that’s for sure,” said Coleman said.
Utility man Charles Reed says there’s been no shortage of work since a week ago Monday.
“That was the worst of it — just trying to get through the traffic and the mud. Lots of cars piled up from the drainage. It was pretty dramatic for me. I never have seen anything like it,” Reed said.
Maui Meadows residents tell KITV4 it’s amounted to a whole lot of work hours and money. But in the end, they’re glad nobody was hurt.
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