Heavy rains sent muddy floodwaters across Oahu’s North Shore, sweeping homes off foundations, submerging vehicles and prompting emergency evacuations after officials warned a 120‑year‑old dam could fail.
Authorities sounded sirens and ordered residents downstream of the Wahiawa dam to leave immediately, saying the long‑vulnerable structure was “at risk of imminent failure.” About 5,500 people were under evacuation orders. There were no immediate reports of fatalities or injuries, though some homes had been swept away, Honolulu spokesperson Ian Scheuring said.
Search-and-rescue crews worked by air and water for stranded residents; officials said those operations were hampered when people flew personal drones over flooded areas. Dozens — possibly hundreds — of homes were damaged, Mayor Rick Blangiardi said, while city officials added they were confident other island dams were stable but warned that additional rain made conditions unpredictable. “There’s no question that the damage done thus far has been catastrophic,” the mayor said.
The National Guard and the Honolulu Fire Department airlifted 72 children and adults from a spring‑break youth camp at the Our Lady of Kea’au retreat on Oahu’s west coast after floodwaters cut off the entrance road, St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawai‘i said. On Maui, officials issued an evacuation advisory for parts of Lahaina after nearby retention basins neared capacity; some of those neighborhoods were already scarred by the 2023 wildfire.
Officials have been monitoring dam levels since a storm last week dumped heavy rain across the state, washing away roads and homes. A similar but weaker system was forecast to bring more rain through the weekend. Gov. Josh Green wrote that “it’s going to be a very touch‑and‑go day.” Much of the state was under a flood watch, and the National Weather Service placed Haleiwa and Waialua on northern Oahu under a flash‑flood warning.
One shelter at Waialua High and Intermediate School was evacuated as water rose; about 185 people and 50 pets were bused to another center, though 54 people remained at the shelter by midday. Parts of Oahu recorded 8 to 12 inches of rain overnight, adding to saturation from last weekend; Kaala, the island’s highest peak, logged nearly 16 inches in 24 hours. The downpours were driven by a Kona low, a winter storm pattern that pulls moisture in from the south and southwest. Experts say the intensity and frequency of heavy rains in Hawaii have increased with human‑caused global warming.
Local resident Kathleen Pahinui, preparing to move to higher ground, said the aging Wahiawa dam alarms people whenever it rains: “Just pray for us.” The state classifies the dam as having high hazard potential and warns that a failure “will result in probable loss of human life.”
The earthen dam was built in 1906 to support sugar production and was rebuilt after a collapse in 1921. State records show the landowner, Dole, received four notices of deficiency about the dam since 2009 and was fined $20,000 five years ago for not addressing safety issues on time. Dole later proposed donating the dam, reservoir and ditch system to the state if the state agreed to repair the spillway.
In 2023 the state approved acquisition authority and allocated $5 million to buy the spillway plus $21 million to repair and expand it to meet safety standards, but the transfer had not been completed; a state board was scheduled to vote on the acquisition next week. Dole said in a statement that “the dam continues to operate as designed with no indications of damage.”
Hawaii regulates 132 dams, most originally built for sugar‑cane irrigation, according to a 2019 infrastructure report by the American Society of Civil Engineers.