Calvin drops 7 inches of rain on Maui but impacts minimal | News, Sports, Jobs

Wailuku residents Charlie and Christelle Bumagat head home with son Cadence, 3, after a visit to Four Sisters Bakery on Vineyard Street Wednesday. Charlie said there is nothing like warm pastries and fresh rolls on a rainy day. “That is why we came out here,” he said, before adding that Cadence enjoys the rain. “He likes going in muddy puddles,” he said. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Weakening storm system Calvin was “nothing out of the ordinary” for residents in East Maui, which saw the most rain in Maui County from the passing storm that continued to move away from the islands Wednesday afternoon.

“The wind was blowing a little,” Neil Hasegawa of Hasegawa General Store in Hana said Wednesday as Calvin dissipated from a tropical storm to a post-tropical cyclone.

But, he said, it was “nothing out of the ordinary.”

Hasegawa reported some drizzling and said although rivers may have been flowing in East Maui, it was due more so to rain on the upper side of Haleakala than from rain along the coastal areas like Hana town.

Over a 24-hour period ending at 4 p.m. Wednesday, 7.01 inches of rain fell on the West Wailuaiki gauge in East Maui and 6.51 inches of rain fell on the Puu Kukui gauge in the West Maui Mountains, the most of any other locations in Maui County, according to the National Weather Service.

Siren wailing and lights flashing, an American Medical Response ambulance zips past a Wailuku puddle on Central Avenue Wednesday morning. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

The rainfall was fairly widespread — the weather service reported 1.34 inches in Haiku, 1.19 inches for the Mahinahina gauge in West Maui and 1.16 inches in Pukalani. On Molokai, the most rain fell on the Puu Alii gauge at 1.90 inches, while Lanai City saw little rain at 0.16 inch.

Workers at Haiku True Value Hardware and All Kine Maui Grindz in Haiku said it was rainy all day but “not too hard,” as one employee put it.

Maui County officials said Wednesday afternoon that there were no reports of storm-related damages so far, though it planned to continue monitoring impacts.

Calvin was located about 240 miles south of Honolulu and moving west at 20 mph as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center’s final advisory for the storm. With maximum winds at 40 mph, Calvin was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. Flood watches, high surf advisories and high wind advisories were canceled by Wednesday afternoon, though a small craft advisory remained in effect for Maui County’s windward waters as well as Maalaea Bay and the Pailolo Channel through 6 a.m. today.

Weather officials had projected Hawaii island would see the biggest impacts. Rainfall hit 8 inches in some areas but Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth reported no major incidents or damage, “only minor flooding in typically flood-prone areas” as well as some reports of fallen tree branches and heavy winds in various areas. Multiple county and state facilities closed on the island, including parks as well as some roads due to flash flooding, Roth said during a remote appearance at a news conference hosted in Honolulu by the Governor’s Office.

John Bravender, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu, said that Calvin passed south of Hawaii island on Tuesday night as a tropical storm, “and during the overnight hours of this morning, lost all of its deep thunderstorms that help define a tropical cyclone.”

“What we mean by post-tropical is it no longer has those tropical storm characteristics, but it still has a lot of wind,” said Bravender, adding that there will likely be another 12 to 24 hours of strong winds.

Gov. Josh Green said at the news conference shortly before noon that “it is safe to say that the worst has passed.” However, he said the state “takes these things very seriously because they can cause harm very quickly,” and urged residents to view Calvin as a reminder to be prepared.

“Hurricane season is long,” Green said. “We are just in the second month. It runs through the end of November. … So this was a good reminder. If we’d had a direct hit, it would’ve been necessary to have two weeks of water, two weeks of food, two weeks of medication to be ready. So we’re grateful to have had this first run of the hurricane season in a safe, controlled way.”

Maui County said its officials have been working with state and federal agencies to actively monitor Calvin. The county’s Maui Emergency Management Agency has maintained contact with emergency response operations in the county’s remote communities and with the state’s emergency management agency on Oahu as the storm approached. Hawaii Emergency Management Agency Administrator James Barros called preparations for Calvin a “good dry run.”

“I want to extend our appreciation to our community for their continued vigilance,” Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a news release. “I’m also grateful for all of our county, state and federal emergency response personnel who have spent the last few days preparing their own homes and families in anticipation of being away to serve our community should conditions escalate and more resources and support become necessary.”

* Managing Editor Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com. Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

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