after the unreal rains we've had the past 2 weeks now and still counting...just checking to see 1) how's all the mini owners out windward side doing? 2) how's the roads?

i believe we actually made cnn headline news with all the flooding from kaawa to kahuku, which is where i drive to on t/th. and believe it or not, i actually did make it to work this past thursday. but i was forced to go thru haleiwa and was damn glad that i drove my nissan p/u instead of my mini, cause i woulda been almost guarantee stalled in one of the numerous ponds on kam hwy between sunset and kahuku. luckily there were no rivers across the hwy up there, but some areas had so much ponding, the cars had to slow to 5mph or less to pass thru safely, otherwise you start steering involuntarily to the side of the road.

first hint of what was to come started 2 weekends ago after the island cruise and get-together up at poamoho estates; feedback and i went cruising down northshore and windward side on our way home. big mistake for me. i ended up getting home about 4 pm after leaving waialua about 2 pm, just before the rains came. first of all, the sunday traffic thru north shore was awful, even though waves were small for country. then the heavy rains started hitting right about when the traffic was opening up. and i mean heavy like this past week's rains, all the way from sunset to kaneohe. luckily those rains only came down for that 1 day, but i'm guessing those rains softened the ground up for this past week's rains unfortunately.

now that everyone's slowly recovering...i'm worried that the roads are in bad shape. especially from kaaawa to haula. i think i'm gonna drive my p/u this next week to test out the roads first before driving my mini.

anybody else got some info?

 

I had to work out on the WW side yesterady and today. I drove my Toyota P/U yesterday and my office van today. I love my MINI but sometimes something with a little better ground clearance comes in handy!

From Ka'a'awa back through Punalu'u the roads will need quite a bit of work. The section at Crouching Lion is probably the worst I saw today. Most of it was caused by a landslide that came down the mountain and just missed two homes!

 

I live and work on the Windaward side- didn't chance em on Friday- drove the truck to work- glad I did- Mini would've been in tire deep H2O... can't wait for some sunshine!

 

i think that section just on the kaneohe side of crouching lion even before the rains was already the worst. i think the days just before the most recent rains, they had just removed a large chunk of ~30-50 yards of the surface tar and were prepping the base layer for a brand new coat. then the rains hit. i hope they've included some kinda improved drainage along with the new road surfacing, otherwise it's just gonna get eaten up within a year.

all the bridges are ok too? especially the one in kaaawa where the stream it crossed over became a river that took out large chunks of people's yards, as well as boat.

 

today i just drove the kaneohe to kahuku stretch thru some light rain...really the road isn't that bad. i thought it was gonna be far worse. and actually i'd say the smell is actually worse than the road condition. some of that sewage water is sitting on the sides of the roads i'm guessing particularly from kaaawa to haula.

that stretch of un-tarred road near crouching lion is probably the worst part as the rains have eroded parts of the base layer. but overall not too bad. and the stretch of unpaved road is well over 100 yards.

so basically i plan to drive my mini this thursday...unless of course, the heavy downpours are forecast to start up that day.