Officials unable to assess flood damage until reservoir empties
Mark Vaught of East Maui Irrigation Co. (from right), Shan Tsutsui of Mahi Pono and Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino visit the Kaupakalua Dam in Haiku on Tuesday following massive flooding. DLNR photos
An enormous tree lies parallel to the spillway at the Kaupakalua Dam on Tuesday
Mark Vaught of East Maui Irrigation Co. (from right), Shan Tsutsui of Mahi Pono and Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino visit the Kaupakalua Dam in Haiku on Tuesday following massive flooding. DLNR photos
An enormous tree lies parallel to the spillway at the Kaupakalua Dam on Tuesday
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The Maui News
State engineers and the owners of the Kaupakalua Dam won't be able to fully assess the damage to the structure until flooding subsides and the reservoir empties out, the Department of Land and Natural Resources said Wednesday.
Officials visited the dam on Tuesday, a day after torrential rains overflowed the dam, flooded roads and washed away bridges and homes.
"This dam is old, and we require it to stay dry, so that any water coming down the stream normally just washes through," DLNR Chairwoman Suzanne Case said. "With more than 14 inches of rain in a very short period of time, the reservoir just filled up, and overtopped the dam and sent water rushing down the spillway. It will take awhile for all of that water to flow out."
Case and DLNR Dam Safety officials conducted the site survey along with Maui County Mayor Michael Victorino, county staff and officials with Mahi Pono and East Maui Irrigation. Mahi Pono is half-owner of the dam and reservoir that was built in 1885 and owned and managed by EMI.
DLNR Dam Safety engineer Edwin Matsuda hoped the clay structure of the 1885-era dam has consolidated enough over the decades to withstand serious damage but said "until we can get there, we really won't be able to know."
On Tuesday, the brown water in the reservoir was backed up in Kaupakalua Stream beyond the Peahi Road Bridge crossing a quarter mile mauka, according to the DLNR. The bridge was completely destroyed during the flood.
Three-hundred yards below the dam's spillway, Mark Vaught of EMI pointed to mangled portions of the upstream bridge's guardrail and bridge decking that had washed down from upstream of the reservoir and were tangled with trees and other debris.
DLNR said in the news release Wednesday that it appears so far that most of the property damage caused by the flooding, including destruction of homes and bridges, was mauka of Kaupakalua Reservoir and that the sheer volume of water coming into the stream flooded adjoining areas above the reservoir.
Mahi Pono has said that the reservoir was empty before the flooding on Monday. Plans were underway to remove the dam this summer, following a state report that found the structure in "unsatisfactory" overall condition.
"We've been working with the dam owners on these plans for the past year to really expedite that schedule," Matsuda said. "We do have to wait for the dry season, because this is an in-stream reservoir and you always face the possibility of more heavy rainfall. Timing will be critical."
Case attributed the flooding to "an example of climate change in the present day."
"We have a flood emergency because of the heavy rain bomb," Case said. "And we're seeing these more and more across the island chain -- more frequent and more extreme events. This is what happens when the weather changes. We're all seeing it now."