The city wants Oahu drivers to report any new potholes opening up under the puddles they drive through this winter.

There is no estimate on the number of new potholes that are popping up — or where.

Worst of all, city crews likely won’t be able to patch them until the winter weather clears.

“It is difficult for us to patch potholes while it’s raining, while the streets are puddled or ponding,” said Ross Sasamura, director and chief engineer of the city’s Department of Facility Maintenance. “So we do need some good weather to work with us so we can complete those repairs.”

Sasamura warned drivers to be cautious this winter, especially when driving through puddles.

“We’ve had quite a bit of wet weather in Honolulu, on Oahu, over the past few days, over the past week,” Sasamura told reporters Monday.

That’s led to a “number of potholes that are emerging on city streets and, actually, any paved street on the island of Oahu.”

In a statement, Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s office said, “Heavy rain is the leading contributor to potholes as water seeps into cracks in the pavement, expanding them as heavy vehicles drive on the road.”

Sasamura asked drivers to report any potholes by calling the city’s “pothole hotline” at 768-7777 or by visiting honolulu.gov/dfm/pothole.html.

Potholes on state highways that are reported to the city’s hotline — such as on Pali, Kamehameha and Nimitz highways and Ala Moana Boulevard — will be referred to the state Department of Transportation, Sasamura said.

Although he had no estimate for the number of any new potholes, Sasamura said some 51,000 potholes were patched during a particularly wet 2015 compared with 13,000 last year.

During Caldwell’s seven years as mayor, his office said, county crews have repaved over 2,052 lane miles out of 3,517 city lane miles; patched over 230,000 potholes; sealed over 1,387,000 linear feet; and applied over 226 lane miles of “slurry seal” and over 122 lane miles of “seal coating.”