Several dozen volunteers joined state Civil Defense employees, state prison crews and neighbors in cleaning up tons of debris from homes and waterways in Waianae and Ewa yesterday.

Work at both locations wrapped up more than an hour earlier than scheduled, but not because the work was completed. Cleanup organizers were able to secure only one 40-cubic-yard rubbish "can" for each site, and both containers were filled quickly with large pieces of wood, furniture and other debris washed into the neighborhoods during the deluge of water that flooded both areas as a result of the rainstorm on the night of Jan. 12.

"We’ve done just about all we can do for today," said Ed Texeira, the state’s vice director of Civil Defense.

The closure of Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill, also caused by the storm, hampered the availability of rubbish bins that could be donated for the effort, Texeira said. Large waste cannot be dumped anywhere until the landfill reopens.

The lack of bins, however, did not mean volunteers were sitting on their thumbs. After helping haul debris from the vicinity of about half a dozen damaged homes at the Ewa site, the volunteers went to work on the area along Honouliuli Stream. The waterway had overflowed at several narrower sections in the neighborhood, sending gushing water into the neighborhood along with debris of all kinds, includ-ing live chickens and feces-laden earth from a horse farm just upstream, neighbors said.

Texeira applauded the work of the volunteers, a majority of whom were from Hope Chapel Nanakuli and New Hope Church Leeward and are part of a new team of volunteers known as Survive to Serve that Civil Defense began organizing last March.

"They worked so fast and tirelessly," Texeira said.

Contacted by Civil Defense on Jan. 15, the Rev. Allen Cardines Jr., senior pastor of Hope Chapel Nanakuli, rallied more than 30 volunteers from his congregation to join him for cleanup efforts after church services the following morning.

Cardines grabbed six more people yesterday to help haul the rubbish they had cleared the previous week into their bin.

Texeira said the Survive to Serve program was spawned out of necessity.

"We realized that when a major strike hits, we’re going to be so hamstrung and busy getting logistics and supplies, we’ve got to get help from the community," Texeira said.

Cardines recalled the first meeting with Texeira and other Civil Defense officials: "Ed told us, ‘The next disaster is on its way,’ and, ‘Pastor, we need your help.’ And I knew I needed to get involved."

People need to "hanai," or adopt, their communities in their time of need, he said.

Bill Kumia, community life pastor for New Hope Leeward, brought eight men from the church’s "Braddahs in Christ" ministry. "When there’s a huge one that hits, everybody has to go into the ‘survive and serve’ mode," he said.

Civil Defense officials said while they reached out to church groups first, they have begun talking to Lions Clubs and other community groups and welcomes help from anyone. Contact Civil Defense population protection planner David H. Smith at 733-4300, ext. 8044, or dsmith@scd.hawaii.gov.