HONOLULU, HAWAII: The Department of Transportation closed the Pali Highway in both directions because of a landslide that occurred Wednesday morning just after 10 a.m. and the Pali will remain closed through Wednesday evening.
The DOT announced the state will re-open one lane on the Pali Highway on Thursday morning from 4 a.m. to noon for drivers commuting to town from Kailua.
The landslide came after more than 24 hours of heavy rains in the area and led to rocks, trees and shrubs crashing down in front of the second Pali tunnel.
Several cars inside the tunnel were trapped, but Department of Transportation Spokesman Scott Ishikawa says while one driver was injured, no one was killed, and all people have been rescued.
Ishikawa says drivers are asked to take the Likelike Highway, the H-3 or the Kalanianaole Highway to travel between the Windward side and Honolulu.
The Pali Highway will remain closed throughout Wednesday night. No time or date has been set to re-open the highway, although Ishikawa says crews are on the scene working as quickly as they can to clear the tunnels and roads, despite the continuing heavy rains.
A flash flood warning was issued for Oahu, Kauai and Maui County until Thursday. An earlier Tornado watch has been cancelled as of 2 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. See http://www.nws.noaa.gov/alerts/hi.html#HIZ010.HFOSPSHFO.000000 for weather updates on islands.
Ishikawa says it has continued to "rain cats and dogs” on the Pali Highway, creating a river on the highway that resembles the "chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." The debris has been difficult to clean up because of all the water and the slippery and muddy conditions, he says.
Police also shut down Kamehameha Highway because of the heavy rains and flooding from Waikane Valley Road.
Reach Malia Zimmerman, editor and president of Hawaii Reporter, via email at mailto:Malia@hawaiireporter.com
