The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-11-16
Especial Correspondence.)


rain the Wailuku river burst
u II it's banks Saturday night last
and a torrent poured through
the lumber yards and warehouses. par
TALLY destroying the Hackfeld planning
mill and doing damage to the amount
OF s15.ooo.0o.
The most damaging storm in twen-
ty years' is the way the oldest in
habltant speaks OF the one through
which the city has just passed. For
more than a week rain has been falling
but the heaviest was on Friday and
Saturday and the streams sweIled in
consequence. Saturday morning the
wanuku river was a roaring torrent,
the water having risen so that the falls
above the upper bridge at the electric
light works were entirely obliterated /
from view.
Between g. m. Friday and 1880 a.
m. on Saturday the gauge at Waiakea
showed a rainfall Of seventeen inches, |
the heaviest during the storm Satur-
day afternoon one OF the pipes OF the
electric light company broke loose and
wobbIed like an enormous snake. The
damage was such that the town was in
darkness on Saturday night Late In
the afternoon water from the Waiola
river commenced to pour over the
banks opposite Hackfeld's lumber yard
which Is on the road to Waiakea. In
a little while the space between the
a distance of 500 yards, was impossible |
to vehicles.
The water continued to rise and flow |
ike a mill race. the strongest force be-
ing at a point between the planning mill |
and the lumber shed and near the origi- |
nal channel Of the river which was
closed when the road was built six
years ago.
In the early evening the situation was
alarming; sheds and outhouses began
TO float away. At eight o'clock a stage
belonging to Chinese was caught in
the torrent and washed across the road
lodging under the Hackfeld planning
mill and at midnight the road gave
way and the water poured through the
lumber yard to the sea, washing away
the underpinning OF the planning mill
and the drying shed. A cement founda-
ton on which rested the fifteen horse
power motor sunk so that 1t was at
an angle of forty-five degrees and the
frame work holding the transformers
carried away and the cumbersome
pieces were buried In ten feet of wa
ter
In the meantime Manager Hamburg
RECRUITED all the men available and set
them to work taking out such machin-
cry as could be moved and moving piles
OF lumber. :
The floor OF the planning mill now :
forms an arc Of a circle and the roof
or the lumber shed is bent so that it
resembles a Kansas town after a visit
from a cyclone. The loss to the firm Is .
estimated at $4,000 to $4,000. :
At the -Four Mile bridge on the Vol (
cano road the water broke over the
banks on Saturday afternoon and
a depth which made travel
anu EOdu nstS Atih AIoA 81 - I
" closed To the north there were sew (
eraI fandslides. the worst being between Z
Papafkou and Pepeekeo. The road was
and passengers on stages
were obliged to transfer to others that :
had been sent out from Hilo. On the (
Kaumana road. about six miles from (
Hno. there was another washout that
stopped travel beyond that point.
The Puma branch of the Hilo railroad 4
suffered some damage at a dirt fill 4
about two miles from olaa mill 1t
Nas not serious and will be repaired IN
a few days
A large force of men was put TO work :.