Kalihi residents assess damage from boulders

Two more "boulders of concern" apparently remain on a Kalihi hillside where several boulders tumbled down Thursday night and crashed into three homes, severely damaging two but not hurting anyone, said a spokeswoman for the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

A geologist contracted by the state to determine whose land the boulders came from spotted the boulders, but further details about them or how much of a danger they posed were not immediately available, DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said late Friday afternoon.

John Cummings, spokes­man for the Department of Emergency Management, said the department will hold an informational meeting for residents at 1 p.m. today at Kalihi District Park to provide updates.

He said two homes sustained major damage and one home had minor damage in the rockfall, which happened on Kula Kolea Place at about 9 p.m. Thursday. Residents from seven homes were evacuated.

Officials used a city bus at about midnight to transport 11 residents to Waikiki to stay with friends and about 15 residents to an American Red Cross emergency shelter at Kalihi District Park. Cummings said the shelter was to stay open for Friday night.

At a meeting with residents Friday morning, the city told residents that the boulders came from land owned by either of two owners — the state or a private owner, Cummings said.

Ward said the state’s geologist used GPS coordinates and city property tax records to determine the land from which the boulders originated is owned by a church on Kula Kolea Drive. Neighbors pointed out a sign identifying the chapel as the Church of Christ of the Redeemed of the Lord Beulah. No one answered the door, and the church did not immediately return phone messages.

Dean Onishi, whose house was damaged when a boulder about 5 feet in diameter tore through its side, leaving a gaping hole, said a representative of the church was at the Friday meeting and told attendees that the church doesn’t have insurance or money.

"I don’t know what that leaves us with," he said.

He said he was working with his insurance company to determine whether the incident would be covered.

No one was home at Onishi’s house when the rocks came down, but he returned only minutes after the rockfall and found a boulder sitting in the middle of the road.

"When I saw the house and that, then I knew kind of what happened," he said. "As far as how bad it was I wasn’t sure."

On Friday afternoon, he took a closer took for the first time while picking up some clothes and found the damage worse than he thought.

"I think it’s repairable," he said.

City workers removed the large boulder that sat in the middle of the street by 1 p.m. and patched a pothole created by a second boulder. Residents were allowed back to their homes in the afternoon, but city officials urged them to stay elsewhere until the danger could be mitigated, Cummings said.

In the afternoon, neighbors helped each other salvage items from the damaged homes or brought water or tools to the victims.

Franky Sound, who lives next door to Onishi, said at least five boulders rolled down Thursday night, with four of them hitting his home at 2408 Kula Kolea Place, surprisingly missing five people and three dogs inside. Three of those boulders crashed into his kitchen and living room, knocking out the kitchen wall and leaving wide openings in the roof. One boulder created a hole in the floor that the refrigerator fell into. His roommate, Dan Furuya, was lying on a mattress next to the refrigerator and was covered by debris from the roof.

A fourth boulder busted a hole in the roof, crashed through the eave above the front door, hit the roof of the lanai, then bounced off the pavement between two cars across the street. The boulder flew over a motorcycle and picnic table, crashing into the edge of a home about 30 feet away.

The fifth boulder hit Onishi’s home and stopped in the street.

Deborah Vicari, who lives on the other side of Onishi, pointed out a sixth boulder about 3 feet across that did not damage her home but stopped behind her house, only inches away.

She said that after nearly 30 years living in the home, she’s never heard of boulders coming down in the neighborhood. On Thursday night, she felt the house shaking and heard what she thought were explosions, then went outside to find the air filled with dust. She saw the boulder in the road only after the dust settled.

"It really looked like a bomb," she said.

She said she was frustrated that officials weren’t doing more to help residents close up their homes during the emergency or provide security while the residents are gone.

However, she said the incident brought the neighborhood closer.

"The bottom line is we all walked out of here safe," she said.