Cleanup gets underway after powerful gusts and high surf

The crumbling Royal Hawaiian groin, between the Waikiki Sheraton and Royal Hawaiian hotels, was still standing Monday despite facing threats from a weekend storm.

Tourism officials feared the groin, which is all that is keeping a prime section of Hawaii’s most visited beach from being swept away, could have collapsed if there had been enough swell angle. Instead, nature provided a temporary gift when it blew sand toward Diamond Head, said Dolan Eversole, Waikiki beach management coordinator for Hawaii Sea Grant/Waikiki Beach Special Improvement District.

Sunday winds blew sand from Kuhio Beach into the street across from the zoo. It also temporarily buried the exposed Waikiki Tavern foundation, a recurring and costly problem along Kuhio Beach. That was one bright spot in a stormy weekend that caught some by surprise and left thousands without power, at least five injured on Oahu, two birds freed from the Hono­lulu Zoo by flying debris, and snow on Maui.

“Waikiki dodged a bullet. The beach looks surprisingly good considering the size of the storm and the waves,” Eversole said. “We did see erosion at the Royal Hawaiian groin, but nothing too severe. The benefit is that the exposed Waikiki Tavern foundation is completely buried. For now the beach there is the widest that I’ve seen it in a decade.”

Brendan Lane Larson, co-founder of AbsoluteClimo, a Honolulu-based climate forecasting and risk management company, said the weekend storm, at least in Honolulu, was worse than when Hurricane Lane was measured approaching Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

During Hurricane Lane’s closest approach to Honolulu in August, Larson said, climate reports show sustained wind speeds of 33 mph and gusts of 45 mph. In contrast, Sunday’s storm hit Honolulu with sustained winds of 39 mph and guests of 48 mph, he said.

Larson said he hasn’t looked at Sunday wind measurements outside of Honolulu, but the key takeaway for people on Oahu and the other Hawaiian Islands is that the “climate is changing, and people may need to look more at what they can do about how climate change impacts their business and their lives.”

“We weren’t that prepared for this storm,” he said.

Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Scot Seguirant said the department responded to 143 wind-related incidents from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday, with the most calls occurring between 11 a.m. and noon Sunday.

“We had five arcing-wires calls, 73 blown roofs, 38 downed trees and 27 downed power line calls,” Seguirant said, adding that most calls came from Kaimuki, Ewa Beach, Waikiki, Manoa, Sunset Beach, Waianae and McCully.

Hawaii Lodging &Tourism Association President and CEO Mufi Hannemann said that luckily, Sunday’s storm failed to produce any reports of major consequences at the resorts statewide.

Sue Kanoho, executive director of the Kauai Visitors Bureau, said the storm felt like a “minihurricane,” but “everyone hunkered down and took care of business.”

“For those of us that went through Hurricane Iniki (in 1992), this felt the closest that we’ve come, windwise,” Kanoho said. “State parks on Kauai got the brunt of damaging winds. At Kokee and Waimea Canyon state parks, strong winds brought down numerous trees, power and telephone lines.”

Downed trees forced the closure of the Kokee Natural History Museum, she said. Likewise, high surf prompted closure of Queen’s Bath in Princeville; however, that didn’t stop some 30 tourists from attempting entry, Kanoho said.

Conditions at Oahu’s North Shore also forced the closure of some businesses, including Waimea Valley. The attraction suffered lots of downed trees and small branches. Waimea Valley Executive Director Richard Pezzulo said workers were able to clear the branches in time to reopen Monday morning.

Waikiki was open for business Monday, too. However, there were still piles of fallen tree limbs and debris in the Kapiolani Park and Honolulu Zoo vicinity.

Across the street, the Hono­lulu Zoo is still facing repercussions from a giant kiawe tree that crashed into an enclosure, providing an opportunity for two rare African ground hornbills — 17-year-old Martha and 13-year-old Najuma — to escape. Martha’s 57-year-old mate, Abby, remained behind and was relocated to a temporary enclosure along with a Marabou stork named Lurch, whose next-door compound also was damaged.

Falling branches prompted the zoo to close early Sunday afternoon. It reopened early Monday afternoon but at that time was still one hornbill short. Zoo officials returned Martha to the zoo Monday morning after she was spotted at a Diamond Head Road residence.

At press time Monday, the zoo was still searching for Najuma.

Thomas Borjorquez, an avian zookeeper, said searching for hornbills is challenging because they can soar for miles and run 15 to 20 mph.

“Our biggest fear is that we won’t retrieve him alive,” Borjorquez said. “The last location that he was spotted at was Diamond Head Lookout.”

Searchers can identify Najuma, who weighs roughly 9 pounds, by the distinctive guttural call that hornbills make every morning and night.

Borjorquez said Martha was located “because she has this loud, booming call similar to an owl.” The team used mice and vocalizing from her mate to lure her home, he said.

Borjorquez said anyone who spots Najuma is asked to call 911 but not to approach the bird because it could easily be frightened.