Flood prevention project resumes

lnakagawa@staradvertiser.com

Business owners in the Mapunapuna industrial area say they are looking forward to relief from decades of tidal flooding as a city contractor resumed a drainage improvement project this week after a 14-month interruption.

“If this brings relief, it would be incredible,” said Patricia Middleton, owner of Funeral Wreath Shop on Awaawaloa Street. “I’m trusting that it will if the city is spending so much money on it, as this has plagued us for a long time.”

Eckard Brandes Inc. of Kailua is working on the $865,900 project, scheduled for completion in late August.

Even on the sunniest day, several Mapunapuna streets can be flooded at high tide as sea water flows inland through drainage pipes and into the industrial district — filled-in former marshland that has sunken below high-tide level over the years.

At its worst the standing water can be more than 2 feet deep, topping curbs and flooding businesses. Cars slosh through the water, with many drivers unaware that their chassis are getting a saltwater soaking.

“I have a kayak at home, and I’ve thought about bringing it to take a picture with us on the street when the tide is high,” said John Tomei, who has worked at NAPA Auto Parts on Mapunapuna Street for nine years.

“We’ve been seriously flooded more times than you can shake a stick at,” he said. Tomei estimated the NAPA shop has been flooded more than 10 times.

The city began the drain improvement project in April 2010. Eckard Brandes was to install two “duckbill” valves — thick rubber valves with a folded-over closure that opens to let water pass in one direction but stays shut when water approaches from the other direction. The contractor cleared debris and silt from the drainpipes and in the outlet area.

But the project was postponed in May due to “changes in the installation process,” Lori Kahikina, deputy director of the city Department of Design and Construction, said in an email.

Jeff Iwasaki-Higbee, president of Eckard Brandes Inc., said the original duckbill valves did not fit the drain­age pipe. Work was stopped pending approval of modifications by the Design Department. New valves and stainless-steel mounting plates were ordered, adding $78,230 to the original $787,677 contract amount.

Eckard Brandes workers completed installation of one of the valves late Wednesday afternoon in the storm drain channel under the bike path off the mauka shoulder of Nimitz Highway. The other valve will be installed nearby beginning Saturday.

“We are doing our best to achieve the intent of the project,” Iwasaki-Higbee said. “We had to fabricate these plates, but we had to get approval and do submittals with (the city Design Department).”

Another problem encountered last year was at Ahua and Awaawaloa streets, where the city wanted to plug a drainage pipe to stop water flowing in from Moanalua Stream.

Iwasaki-Higbee said the company was unable to install a manhole there as the city requested, because ground water there is close to the surface and the soil is sandy and unstable.

The city has since agreed to forgo the manhole, and the company will instead install a permanent plug, he said.

Middleton, the Funeral Wreath Shop owner, said her business has been flooded twice in the past 10 years, and is hoping the project will dry up Mapunapuna.

“I think only time will tell,” she said. “I’m crossing my fingers that it will work.”