Tragedy in Kauai
Normally the words I write about Kauai describe my complete fascination with its beauty and the inner contentment I feel while I am there. So it is quite different to associate "tragedy" with Kauai. But such is the case today.
Earlier this week, a reservoir dam failed in the northeast part of the island spilling millions of gallons of water down a river stream all at once. The flood level was said to eclipse 40 feet in height and resulted in several houses being swept off their foundations. More importantly, two are dead and five are missing.
The water level temporarily temporarily closed the Kuhio Highway which represents the only way for road travelers to go from the north side of the island to the south side. This effectively cut people off from the airport and from the only major hospital on the island. Tourists with plane flights were being transported by helicopter if they were lucky. Newly-arriving tourists with lodging arrangements on the north side of the island were either taking the return helicopter flight or staying the night in their rental cars. So basically, for two days Kauai was no place to be if you had plans in the affected areas.
It has come out that the failed dam was an earthen dam. What’s more, its a dam more than 100 years old, owned and maintained (or not) by the landowner. The years of neglect and the recent heavy rainfall combined to create the failure. The chilling part of this is that this is not the only such dam. For a while, there was concern over a neighboring dam failing as well, but it appears that the situation has improved such that that is no longer a concern.
We are due to be in Kauai again in less than 60 days, so we’ll be able to witness this first hand. If you have an interest in following this story, you can do so at the Garden Isle News site.