Backed up Waiahole stream sparks flooding and bridge safety fears
Heavy rain, combined with debris buildup, turned this usually calm waterway into a flood hazard. And the Waiahole Poi Factory found itself right in the middle of the rising water.
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'All over here was like muddy and stuff from the valley and there's a drain over there, that kind of comes up as well. So it kind of went wrong from that one and then it followed through the kitchen,' said employee Thomas Galdeira-Hugo.
Workers at the restaurant said they had to scramble to move supplies and equipment.
'It was getting bad from that window there even entering from that way,' Galdeira-Hugo said, pointing at the restaurant's front entrance. 'That's when we needed the sand bags.'Flooding is nothing new for the restaurant, but because they've been so busy cleaning up yesterday and today, it was the first time Galdeira-Hugo saw the status of the stream.
'Oh, that's bad,' he said. 'Once it gets past that, when it's hitting that bar right there. that's when it's going to get bad and stuff.'
It's not just business that has people worried. The bridge serves as a key connection to the community and residents in the area say they're worried about the safety of the bridge.
'Because the bridge is already compromised, how inconvenient it would be for people to have to drive all the way around the island just to come home,' said longtime Waiahole Valley resident Nathan Oshima.
The 103-year-old Waiahole Bridge has long been on the list to be replaced. According to a Board of Land and Natural Resources report, the state Department of Transportation is expected to begin construction on a new bridge in the spring of 2026.
We reached out to state transportation officials, who we've been told, are looking into the community's concerns.
But for many, the worry lingers. Oshima is concerned for his neighbor, the farmer next to Waiahole Stream.
'She gets wiped out on the regular because of the water. Because of that she's lost a lot of her farmland gets eaten away and it continually does. because there's no maintenance,' Oshima said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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