Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-03-20
Streets Run Into Rivers: Wide
Devastation is Found When
Storm Waters Subside
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(ContInued from page oneD
Never in the history Of the Honolulu
weather bureau has such a storm
swept the island as occurred yesterday
and last night. Weather bureau rec
ords were smashed right and left and
damage 70 property. both public and
private, Will run into SIX figures.
According TO the report OF the
weather bureau, 1886 inches fell in
the "a hours from O'Clock yesterday
morning TO the same time this morn
ing, an amount equal TO almost
three times the former record OF 5.O4
inches, which happened March l5-16,
1908. In recent years the largest rain
fall occurred January 1918, 1916, when
4.4s inches fell. From noon yesterday
until this morning there was 1888
inches of rain. which is another record
This morning IL was impossible TO
say whether weather bureau records
for five or ten minutes and one and
two hours we're broken, as IL had not
been computated, but, according to A.
NJ. Hamrick, chief OF the bureau, he
does not believe they were. There
was no extremely heavy deluge, the
rain simply falling continually result
Ing In the 24-hour record being broken
The damage to city streets was ire
mendous, George Collins, city and
hcounty engineer, said this morning Al.
although many of the streets are still
t1passable and repairs may not be abb
solutely necessary, the actual destruc-
tion done was close to SIS 900. Collins
said al o'clock Reports from all
districts were not then In, but Collins
believed that the above amount was
a close estimate
Maliki Flume Breaks
The biggest destruction was done by
the breaking OF the Makiki flume
which let loose huge volumes of water.
II swept down the hill carrying every
thing before 1t and at the end OF
streets such as KewalO the property
was severely damaged, the water car
rying away valuable plants and shrubs
and tearing up the land.
Everywhere yards are filled with
= dirt and rubbish and many which are
lower than the street level are under
water. The Kalihi district resembles
a lake as also does Kapiolani Park
The low section Of Palama Is also
flooded and last night It was absolute
ly impossible 10 get through Moanalua.
New lmnroyeme1ts Little Damaged
In all this destruction, however,
there Is noe bright light in that the
damage 10 the two big Improvement
districts. Mhnoa and Kaiakaua, was
slight. In the Manoa valley only q
small section OF curling which would
have had TO come out anyway was
undermined and short strip OF curb.
ing on Kniakaua avenue viii have to
be reset. The entire cost to the con-
tractors will not be $4,000. The rain
fall there, according to the gauge OF
the road department.. was 9.26 inches.
Private property, however, suffered
considerably. particularly ON East
Manoa road, where the water coming
down Adolph street deposited rubbish
In the yards.
Electric Pisnt uninjured
H william Frazee, superintendent OF
" the electric light plant in Nuuanu val
ley, reported that no damage was done
to the plant The rainfall there was
IL inches.
On the other side Of the island the
few reports which came into the road
department showed that the storm
there was also severe. doing damage
equal to that Of the storm two weeks
ago except that no more bridges were
washed out but more sections OF road.
way were made impossible and pr.
waite property badly washed out There
was no destruction reported from Wa.
hiawa.
Capitol Bssement Nearly Flooded
Twice. last night the fire depart
ment was called out TO save the base
ment OF the Capitol building from
flooding. The heavy rains were pour
Ing great streams into the square,
open depressions around the outside
OF the lower floor which give light
and afr for the basement offices. The
flood poured from the lawns into these
holes and threatened to inundate the
basement. Fire Chief Thurston sent
out the big gasoline engine No. with
a crew from the Central station at 10
O'Clock and pumped out the depres-
sions, and at midnight the crew
was called on again This time the
engine pumped from - to Ais and
saved the basement from being filled
with two or three feet OF water.
The fire department was also asked
to pump out the basement of the
Hackfeld building. which was flooded,
and a Chinese mill company on river
street had similar experience.
Beach Walk Section Inundated
The terrific rains poured water into
the lowlying Beach Walk section as
into bathtub and the water stood
from six inches to q foot and halt
szadeep over large part Of the tract
Failure on the part Of the city and ter.
fitory to carry out either the Waikiki
reclamation or the district drainage
scheme has put this section at the
mercy of such floods
This morning residents asked the
aid OF the fire department to pump
out the oyerflowed lots, as houses
we're cut off from access to the streets
and residents were temporary ma
rooned. The fact that the section has