The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1920-12-31
CHRISTMAS KONA
SWEEPS ISLANDS
Storm One of Heaviest In
Years; Drenching Rains
Bring More Benefits Than
Losses to Maui.

One of the most severe storms to
visit the Islands in years was the
Christmas Kona which swept them
from Kauai to Hawaii last week, Civ
ing them all a thorough drenching,
occasioning a considerable damage in
some Islands and more or less in con-
venience in all. Maui, especially Cen
trail Maui, escaped easily as compared
with the other Islands so far as finan
cial loss and serious inconvenience
went. 1t would appear the Hama dis
trict suffered most on this Island.
From Hama come reports of several
buildings having been unroofed and
many acres of cane leveled to the
ground. With rats prevalent it is
feared the loss to the sugar crop will
be large. Telephone communication
with the outside ceased for about "a
hours.
At Lahaina several trees were blown
down, one large one at Lahainaluna
which, fortunately, fell away from in
stead of upon adjacent buildings.
At Wailuku the streets were strewn
with small limbs and foliage and on
Christmas eve the lighting system was
out of commission for a considerable
time and finally went down to leave
the town in darkness until next day.
Water Intake Clogged
Sunday morning Wailukans waken-
ed to find the town without water
Early Christmas morning the water
had gone over the bank of lao stream
in some places but there was little
damage. Christmas day, as the water
was quite turbid, much of it was per-
mitted to drain from the reservoir.
That night the intake became clogged
and Sunday morning quickly exhaust
ed the small supply in the reservoir.
Manuel Faustino, the water keeper
had met with an accident on Christ
mas Eve which incapacitated him
from reaching town and the telephone
was down so that he could send no
warning of the clogging of the intake
with rocks and boulders and investiga-
ton followed the discovery in town of
the water shortage. County Engineer
Low and Water superintendent An
tone Garcia went out, put men at work
and in a few hours had service re-
stored
The injury to Faustino consisted of
a dislocated shoulder and he was with
out medical attention for nearly two
days. He was walking along the
bank of the stream, attending to keep
ing the intake clear, when a bank
which had been undermined by the
wash of the water gave way beneath
him.
The supply for Wailuku plantation
was also checked by a similar mishap
Manager Brown of the Telephone
company says some 25 or 80 phones
were out of commission, a number of
poles blown down and some of the
cables water soaked. What the finan-
cial loss will, be cannot be determin-
ed until it is learned how much cable
will have to be replaced.
Up the sides of Haleakala private
loss can be reckoned in the hundreds
of dollars while benefits of the rain
can be figured in thousands. Other
financial loss is chiefly to the county
in roads that were washed out, the
largest individual loss being to the
Tuck Sang store at MakaWao which
was damaged to the extent of $500.
In Honolulu there were fully thou
sand telephones out of commission, q
theater was flooded and $1,000 organ
ruined and on the Oahu railroad there
were washouts and trains were STALL
ed. There, as on Maui, merchants
were affected by the practical cessa-
ton of Christmas shopping before be-
lated buyers and filled their wants.
Honolulu rainfall for the week up to
Christmas is reported by the weather
bureau as 6.21 inches while at EVA
the rainfall amounted to 9.72 inches.
On the Big Island. especially the
Kona coast, a considerable storm dam
age is reported to have occurred.
WaiIuku Well Wet
In Wailullu the total rainfall of the
storm was 500 inches of which 1855
inches fell the day before Christmas
and $40 inches on Christmas day.
While the wind was high it did not at
any time during the storm reach a
velocity that approached past records.