Wai Hālana

Sunday February 18th, 2018.

Another day to remember at Heʻeia Fishpond. Wow. After a lot of rain earlier in the week and 1.5 inches on Saturday evening into Sunday morning, things were primed to get nuts when a storm system parked over Koʻolaupoko midday on Sunday. We were already inspecting the pond for kuapā and mākāhā damage on Sunday morning after the 1.5 inches of rain overnight. The pond was latte coffee brown but no mākāhā were broken and the wall was intact. Phew. We dodged a flood bullet, or so we thought. Then around 11am on Sunday it started raining again and didnʻt let up until almost 5pm. In the span of a few hours another 5.5 inches of rain fell at Heʻeia Fishpond and maybe even more up mauka. Thus began the flood. It took about 2 hours for the waters to gather in our valleys and make their way to the fishpond. Then the pond started to fill up from the inside. Heʻeia stream, which normally flows gently through Hoi (property just mauka of the fishpond operated by Kākoʻo ʻOiwi), had cut new channels through the wetland making a straight shot directly into the fishpond. This incredible amount of water racing down from ʻIolekaʻa and Haʻikū quickly filled the fishpond and topped maybe 50% of the restored wall. Several of our makaha buckled under the extreme water pressure and force. Thankfully all of our wall stayed intact and did not begin to break. But unfortunately, all kinds of fish began dying or stranding on our walls. Such a sad sight. We salvaged what we could, threw the living ones into Kāneʻohe Bay, and hoped whatever crabs made it through the flood would eat the rest. Oh….and in the middle of this all at about 2:15pm the hillside behind our office decided to come tumbling down. Yup, landslide action. No damage to our office but 7-8 dump truck loads of dirt to remove. Crazy crazy day. And the recovery will continue as we fix the landslide, fix our mākāhā, and rebuild our stocks of fish in the pond. Main thing is everyone is safe. These are extreme examples of how we are always in a constant state of learning. Enjoy the pictures below. E ola!!