Tonight, Hawaii is under a flood watch after weeks of heavy rain triggered the worst flooding there in 20 years. The latest deluge pouring onto a highway in Maui. Damage across the state could top $1 billion. CBS’s Carter Evans in Los Angeles has more for us tonight.
Jericka, what has hit Hawaii is just pure devastation. It’s a powerful series of storms that’s been pummeling the islands for days, and it’s unrelenting. This is what large swaths of Oahu and Maui look like after drenching rain that hasn’t been seen in decades, entire neighborhoods swamped, the impact catastrophic.
We are now beginning to contemplate the reality that this storm could cost over $1 billion of damage.
The latest round of storms comes after days of direct hits from a type of tropical cyclone known as a Kona low. Last week, some parts of Maui saw almost 4 feet of rainfall. Now, torrential rain is falling again. On Oahu this weekend, people fled their homes as rescuers from the National Guard moved in, sloshing through waist-deep water. Some escaped in time to drive out, but for others—
“Man, look at this. Never seen this, 35 years on the North Shore. This is heavy,” a resident said.
And with the ground already saturated, the state warns a nearby dam could burst at any time.
“This is it. It breached the wall,” another resident said.
Residents downstream ordered to evacuate.
“Citizens everywhere have been taking care of each other. That’s what you do in Hawaii. That is what we are as an ohana. That’s why people have not died,” Gov. Josh Green said.
At least so far, a 71-year-old woman has been reported missing. It’s feared she may have been swept into a swollen river on Maui. At least the rain is forecast to start tapering off tomorrow.
Tonight, crews in Washington State have begun a tough task. They’re clearing several tons of rocks, mud, and debris from Interstate 5. Officials say some of the rocks are as big as buses. Heavy rainfall is what caused the slide.
For more on the weather across the country, let’s turn now to meteorologist Andrew Kozak.
“Good evening, Jericka. So much of what we’ve seen so far in the Pacific Northwest can be traced back to the same atmospheric river. Remember that? That is affecting Hawaii. It’s the Pineapple Express. And we have had so much historic flooding the last 24 hours. Tonight we’re still seeing heavy rain. But I do have some good news. After nearly 40 to 50 inches of rain and historic flooding, we’re finally going to see the sun return over the week ahead. However, the Pineapple Express continues to bring some moisture to the Pacific Northwest.
Those same areas up towards Seattle, Bellingham, over toward Portland—we’ve got more rain coming our way as we head into your Monday night. Tuesday, heavy rain. We potentially could see some more landslides this week, something we’re going to be watching very carefully.
From the Northwest to the Southwest, where we have extreme heat warnings, once again, after last week, where we had some historic March high temperatures. We have some more of the same coming our way with 90s and triple-digit heat once again in the forecast. Jericka, we will be 20 to 30 degrees above average this week in the desert Southwest.”
Jericka Duncan: “Andrew, thank you.”