Hakalau rainfall total tops 30 inches on Big Island
TIM WRIGHT / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
A truck braves the flooded street next to Hilo’s Wong Stadium today. Data from the National Weather Service shows Hilo airport saw 19.95 inches of rainfall over the past 48 hours, while a rain gauge at Waiakea Experimental station outside of Hilo recorded 28.83 inches since Wednesday morning.
Measurements of the thumping rainfall in East Hawaii generated by Hurricane Lane’s slow pass up the Hawaiian island chain show that Hakalau suffered under a deluge of 34.2 inches of rain during the 48 hours ending at 8 a.m. Friday.
Data from the National Weather Service shows Hilo airport saw 19.95 inches of rainfall over the past 48 hours, while a rain gauge at Waiakea Experimental station outside of Hilo recorded 28.83 inches since Wednesday morning.
Mountain View in Puna recorded a much more modest 13.09 inches of rainfall, and the mauka Hilo neighborhood of Waiakea Uka recorded 13.95 inches over the two days.
Rainfall in East Hawaii has caused landslides and flooding that closed an array of roads in the Puna and Hilo area, including the newly constructed cross-island Daniel K. Inouye Highway, better known as the Saddle Road.
Perhaps that is understandable considering that a rain gauge at the Saddle Quarry site recorded 20.9 inches of rain in the 24 hours ending 8 a.m. Friday morning, and 13.83 the previous day, for a two-day total of 34.73 inches of rain.
