A severe storm swept east across Oahu on Friday, dumping several inches of rain, triggering flash flooding and cutting power to thousands of Hawaiian Electric Co. customers. The flash flood warning stayed in effect until 6:15 p.m. as the heaviest rain pushed through the island.
The storm cell moved across the island in the afternoon with rain falling at 2 to 3 inches per hour in some areas and wind gusts of 25 to 35 mph. By late Friday, flooding had been reported in Kunia, Waiahole, Waikane and Waipahu, while the Honolulu Police Department closed Kamehameha Highway in all directions at Waiahole Valley Road for several hours because of flooding.
The storm hit an island already under a flash-flood warning from about midday into early evening, covering Downtown, central, west and windward Oahu. Weather service rain gauges recorded 7 inches in Kunia and over 6 inches in upper Moanalua in the 12 hours ending at 6:45 p.m. Friday, with 3 inches in Mililani over the same period. Hawaiian Electric officials said the outages stretched across Oahu, including Ewa Beach, Waipahu, Kaneohe and Pearl City, leaving many residents searching for power outage near me updates as the rain kept falling.
The weather system that drove the thunderstorms was an upper level low linked to an unseasonably cold pattern moving down the island chain. Forecasters said it would slowly move away from the state Saturday into Sunday, diminishing the chance for heavy rain, while the National Weather Service extended a flood watch until 6 a.m. Saturday for Oahu, Maui County and Hawaii island.
Better weather is expected to follow, but not immediately. Forecasters said wet trades would build back in Sunday through Tuesday and become more typical afterward, a shift that should ease the flash-flood threat after a day that brought road closures, flooded neighborhoods and widespread blackouts across Oahu. The storm also postponed several high school sports tournaments.
