WAILUKU - A mudslide buried a portion of Hana Highway on Saturday morning, blocking traffic for about five hours.
No one was injured in the slide that occurred at 9:34 a.m. at Mile Post Marker 21, near Puaa Kaa Park on the Hana side of Keanae. A guardrail was knocked off the road, and crews were unsure how much the road was damaged by the slide, although they believed some damage occurred because of large boulders in the debris, said county spokeswoman Mahina Martin.
State and county crews worked from opposite ends of the slide to clear the road with bulldozers, piling mud into a berm along the road's edge in place of the guardrail. The mud berm made the road somewhat narrower, Martin said.
Some drivers turned around for a long detour through Kaupo, while others waited for the road to be cleared, sharing malasadas and other snacks with hungry work crews, she said.
Authorities reopened the road at 2:45 p.m.
"Obviously we're just grateful that no vehicle was passing through the area at that particular moment, otherwise it had the potential to be a great disaster," Martin said.
