Fooding covers a residential neighborhood in Waialua, Hawaii, on Friday, March 20, 2026.
Mengshin Lin | AP Photograph
As Hawaii endures its worst flooding in additional than 20 years, officers are urging individuals in hard-hit areas to “LEAVE NOW.” The warning early Saturday got here after heavy rains fell on soil already saturated by downpours from a winter storm every week in the past. Extra rain was anticipated over the weekend, officers mentioned.
Muddy floodwaters smothered huge stretches of Oahu’s North Shore, a group world-renowned for its big-wave browsing. Raging waters lifted properties and vehicles, prompting evacuation orders for five,500 individuals north of Honolulu. Authorities cautioned {that a} 120-year-old dam may fail. The Nationwide Climate Service issued a flash flood warning early Saturday with mild to reasonable showers anticipated to show heavy in some locations.
Gov. Josh Inexperienced mentioned the price of the storm may prime $1 billion, together with injury to airports, colleges, roads, individuals’s properties, and a Maui hospital in Kula.
“That is going to have a really critical consequence for us as a state,” Inexperienced mentioned at a information convention.
Many of the state was below a flood watch, with Haleiwa and Waialua in northern Oahu below a flash flood warning, in line with the Nationwide Climate Service.
“Residents within the Waialua space are strongly urged to LEAVE NOW,” an emergency alert mentioned early Saturday. “The remaining entry street out of Waialua is at excessive danger of failure if rainfall continues.”
Inexperienced mentioned his chief of workers spoke to the White Home and acquired assurances the islands would have federal assist.
Most critical flooding since 2004
No deaths have been reported and nobody was unaccounted for. Greater than 200 individuals have been rescued, officers mentioned. About 10 individuals have been taken to a hospital with hypothermia, he mentioned.
Crews searched by air and by water for individuals who had been stranded — efforts that have been hampered by individuals flying private drones to get pictures of the flooding, mentioned Ian Scheuring, a spokesperson for Honolulu.
The Nationwide Guard and Honolulu Fireplace Division airlifted 72 youngsters and adults who had been attending a spring break youth camp at a retreat on Oahu’s west coast referred to as Our Girl of Kea’au, in line with metropolis and camp officers. The camp is on excessive floor however authorities did not need to depart them there, the mayor mentioned.
Inexperienced mentioned the flooding was the state’s most critical for the reason that 2004 floods in Manoa inundated properties and a College of Hawaii library.
A view of a storm-damaged residence close to floating felled branches in flood waters brought on by extreme rains in Waialua, Hawaii, on Friday, March 20, 2026.
Mengshin Lin | AP Photograph
Dozens — if not a whole bunch — of properties have been broken Friday however officers have not been capable of absolutely assess the destruction, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi mentioned. Some 5,500 individuals have been below evacuation orders.
“There is not any query that the injury accomplished to this point has been catastrophic,” he mentioned.
Officers blamed a number of the devastation on the sheer quantity of rain that fell in a short while on saturated floor. Elements of Oahu acquired 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) of rain in a single day. Kaala, the island’s highest peak, received practically 16 inches (40 cm) previously day, the Nationwide Climate Service mentioned.
Extra rain was anticipated: Blangiardi mentioned 6 to eight inches (15 to twenty cm) of rain was forecast to fall on Oahu within the subsequent two to 3 days.
Winter storm techniques often known as “Kona lows,” which characteristic southerly or southwesterly winds that herald moisture-laden air, have been chargeable for the deluges previously two weeks. The depth and frequency of heavy rains in Hawaii have elevated amid human-caused international warming, consultants say.
Eyes on an ageing dam
Officers have been intently watching the Wahiawa dam, which has been susceptible for many years, saying it was “susceptible to imminent failure.”
Water ranges within the dam — about 17 miles (28 kilometers) northwest of Honolulu, on the island of Oahu — receded by late Friday, however that would change if extra rain falls.
In a single day into Friday, the dam went from 79 ft to 84 ft (24 to 25.6 meters) — simply 6 ft (1.8 meters) shy of what it may deal with, authorities mentioned. After peaking at greater than 85 ft (26 meters), the water stage had dropped by early Saturday to 81.5 ft (24.8 meters), in line with the U.S. Geological Survey.
As she ready to evacuate to a good friend’s residence on greater floor, Waialua resident Kathleen Pahinui advised The Related Press in a telephone interview that the ageing dam is a priority each time it rains.
“Simply pray for us,” she mentioned. “We perceive there’s extra rain coming.”
The state has mentioned the Wahiawa dam has “excessive hazard potential,” and {that a} failure “will end in possible lack of human life.”
The earthen dam was inbuilt 1906 to extend sugar manufacturing for the Waialua Agricultural Firm, which ultimately grew to become a subsidiary of Dole Meals Firm. It was reconstructed following a collapse in 1921.
The state has despatched Dole 4 notices of deficiency concerning the dam since 2009 and 5 years in the past fined the corporate $20,000 for failing to deal with security deficiencies on time, in line with data.
Afterward, Dole proposed to donate the dam, reservoir and ditch system to the state in trade for the state’s settlement to restore the spillway to satisfy and keep dam security requirements.
The state handed laws in 2023 authorizing the acquisition of the dam. It additionally supplied $5 million to purchase the spillway and $21 million to restore and increase it to adjust to dam security necessities. However the switch has not been accomplished. A state board is because of vote on the acquisition subsequent week.
“The dam continues to function as designed with no indications of harm,” Dole mentioned in an emailed assertion.
The state regulates 132 dams throughout Hawaii, most of them constructed as a part of irrigation techniques for the sugar cane trade, in line with a 2019 infrastructure report by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
