The Kihei Kai Oceanfront Condominiums in Sugar Beach collapsed during last weekend’s storm on Maui. Gary Kubota/The Maui News

With another kona storm headed toward Maui, workers continued clearing roads and gulches of debris Thursday while assessing damage to buildings.

In addition to the two-bedroom house lost to floodwaters of the Iao Stream, a 16-unit condominium at Sugar Beach in South Maui suffered severe damage in last weekend’s storm that brought heavy rain and high winds.

The Kihei Kai Oceanfront Condominium was unoccupied Thursday when part of the structure collapsed.

“I’d say it’s a total loss, not reparable in my layman’s opinion,” said Eric West, a Maui resident who took a video of the structure earlier this week.

Farther south at Waiapo Street, Kihei residents Robert and Kathleen Beason said they’ve lived on Maui for 16 years and have never experienced the kind of flooding that occurred last weekend where roads in their community turned to streams.

“It was rushing water,” Beason said. “The traffic island down there was completely covered. It was a foot under water.”

Floodwaters from gulches and streets fed into South Kihei Road, as shown by a still from a video taken by Nata Borgen at Kauhale Makai condominium on March 14 . Courtesy photo

A photograph was taken of the cleanup in progress at the same South Kihei Road location this week. Courtesy photo

With over two feet of rain or more falling on parts of Maui in a two-day period, flooding was a major problem in downstream communities.

A video by visitor Nata Borgen from the Kauhale Makai shows multiple streams of water emptying onto South Kihei Road with knee- to hip-deep water in parking lots.

Beason said at one point, a car washed into a retention basin a block away from Waiapo Street.

The Beasons said that most homes didn’t appear to have been flooded because they were built higher than the elevation of the road or are on posts and pier foundations.

The Beasons also said they couldn’t believe how quickly the mud was cleared from the roads. However, it is still unclear if the cleanup work will hold with the second kona storm approaching.

Kihei resident Herbert Fritsch, who lived down the road, said a gulch next to his home was cleared about three months ago, helping to reduce the branches and rubbish that might have backed up flood waters, as it has in the past.

“It probably saved our house from flooding,” Fritsch said. “It’s lucky that they cleared the gulch.”

Major portions of South Kihei Road were passable Thursday morning. The road was closed at Kamaole Beach Park II because of a hole that caused a power pole to tilt. A stretch from Namauu Road north to Kihei Bay Vista turned into a single lane of limited traffic where heavy equipment had pushed the mud into mounds of dirt.

South Kihei Road was reopened from Uwapo Road near the ABC Store and the Kihei Canoe Club to North Kihei Road.

Floodwaters gouged South Kihei Road, leaving debris on the beach near a complex housing an ABC Store and Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice. Gary Kubota/The Maui News

Some visitor activity returns

Conditions varied along the 10-mile stretch of the South Maui coast from Sugar Beach to Makena on Thursday.

Near Cove Park in Kihei, visitors were out taking walks along sidewalks in Kihei, as surfing instructor Brandy Fronte provided lessons to a visiting family.

Fronte, who also works as a school teacher, said the manager of her house had to clean and disinfect her flooded home on Keonekai Street, but she was back giving surf lessons.

“I’ve got to make a living,” she said.

Fronte provided surfing tips to Florida resident Amanda Leonhardt, her husband Whitaker and two children who were planning to spend the morning in the ocean fronting Cove Park.

Leonhardt said she saw quite a bit of mud on the road but her condominium didn’t have any problems.

They went to a luau last night — a highlight of their Maui visit experiencing some Hawaiian culture.

“It’s our first visit to Maui,” she said.

On Thursday on South Kihei Road near Cove Park, visitors were out on a walk or taking surfing lessons. Gary Kubota/The Maui News

Some roads open only to local traffic

Due to storm damage and ongoing safety issues, traffic on the Hana Highway remains limited to local residents and emergency personnel. Crater Road on Haleakala also remains closed, as does the Piilani Highway past Ulupalakua Ranch going toward Hana, according to state and county officials.

Officials warned that roads in Kihei remained impacted in multiple areas by flooding and had limited turnaround space because of single-lane traffic.

Electrical service also remains spotty in some East Maui areas. East Maui resident Dawn Lono said she has been without electricity for five days.

“There are still people who don’t have electricity,” said Lono, the executive assistant to Maui County Council member Shane Sinenci, who represents East Maui.

The Hasegawa Store in Hana also remained closed, except for providing FedEx and UPS services. Store general manager Neil Hasegawa said power went out in the store at noon Friday.

Hasegawa said he’s trying to fix some computer issues at the business, and he hoped to be able to reopen on Friday.

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