City officials are preparing to prevent further sewage spills and ensure the safety of residents and visitors in case Hurricane Ignacio brushes Oahu early this week.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said at a news conference Saturday that Ignacio, which was a Category 4 hurricane on Saturday afternoon, would begin affecting the islands Monday to Wednesday.
Another hurricane behind Ignacio, Jimena, was about 2,000 miles away from Hawaii.
"We have these two very strong hurricanes moving in our direction," Caldwell said. "We need to be prepared."
Oahu will see the brunt of the impact from Ignacio on Tuesday, Caldwell said.
The mayor said the cone of Ignacio’s possible path was tracking along the eastern side of the state, and a small leftward shift of the storm "would not be good for any of our islands."
Caldwell and other city officials made several announcements at the news conference:
» The city could make a decision about opening shelters as early as Sunday afternoon.
» The Coast Guard is not looking to shut down Honolulu Harbor or Kalaeloa Harbor at Barbers Point.
» The mayor may sign an emergency declaration Sunday, which would allow the city to seek reimbursement from the federal government and allow the city to enact evacuations, open shelters and seek assistance from the state.
» Siren testing on Tuesday has been canceled to avoid confusion with the coming storm.
» The decision to close schools will be made Sunday or Monday.
» Beachgoers should listen to lifeguards and not enter the water in dangerous conditions, which could place lifeguards in danger if they have to make rescues.
» Anyone seeing sewage spilling out of a manhole cover should call 911 or the city’s sewage trouble line at 768-7272.
Caldwell said the sewage system is separate from the storm drainage system and does not have the capacity to handle storm runoff, which has led to past sewage spills. City officials have also confirmed that no city sewer pumping stations were offline due to construction, which was the cause of a spill at Ala Moana Beach Park on Monday.
Tim Houghton, deputy director of the city’s Department of Environmental Services, said workers have already positioned extra pumps and generators in case there is flooding.
"It’s very important to us that we don’t spill again," he said.
Melvin Kaku, director of the city’s Department of Emergency Management, asked the public to clean their yards and remove any potential flying debris in preparation for the storm.
He also asked residents to look for potential blockages in streams and to call DEM at 723-8960 for any blockages of the storm drainage system.
Kaku said maintenance crews have been clearing debris from streams around the island following last week’s storm.
"We’ve been doing that over the last four storms," he said. "We believe we’ve gotten most of it, but like anything else there’s a lot of debris upstream."
Jeanne Ishikawa, deputy director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, said the city has trimmed its albizia trees, which caused major damage during a storm on Hawaii island.
Officials are also working with tourism agencies to ensure visitors are informed of the situation.
In addition, the city is making preparations to help the homeless. Buses will be provided to help homeless residents get to shelters if they need to evacuate and pets will be allowed onto the buses with certain conditions.
"We want to make it easy to get to safety," Caldwell said.
He said the city will continue to post notices Monday of the Sept. 8 homeless encampment sweep in Kakaako, but will postpone that enforcement if Hurricane Jimena threatens Hawaii.
Caldwell said the city will enforce a new law banning camping and structures along city streams to protect the homeless camping under bridges from flood waters.
On Wednesday, Michelle Hahn was swept away by raging storm waters in Nuuanu Stream at Liliuokalani Gardens.
