While Kauai tries to keeps its damaged dams from breaking once more, the heavy stuff is now reaching Oahu. Oahu is now under a flash flood warning until 2:00 p.m.

• Lightning struck a Hawaiian Electric transformer in Kailua near Castle Hospital, knocking out power to about 50 households.
• Kamehameha Highway between Kahaluu and Waikane is closed due to flooding. Water is up to about 8 inches in some parts.
• Shelters have been opened at Kailua District Park and Brigham Young University-Hawaii in Laie.

The state remains under a flash flood watch until Monday afternoon, but the weather services believes that more wet stuff is coming:

MODERATE TO HEAVY SHOWERS PERSIST ACROSS SOUTHEAST PORTIONS OF THE
BIG ISLAND. ADDITIONAL HEAVY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE CURRENTLY
BLOSSOMING OVER AND AROUND OAHU AS WELL…AND SIGNIFICANT SHOWERS
CAN ALSO BE SEEN ALONG THE SOUTHERN SLOPES OF MOUNT HALEAKALA. THESE
CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE OVER ALL THE ISLANDS THROUGH THE DAY AND
INTO THE COMING WEEK AS A MID AND UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE
PERSISTS TO OUR WEST. CONVERGENT SURFACE WINDS WITHIN A SURFACE
TROUGH OVER THE CENTRAL ISLANDS WILL HELP SUPPORT STRONG CONVECTION
GENERATED BY THE LIFTING EFFECT OF UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE AROUND
THE SOUTHEASTERN PERIPHERY OF THE UPPER/MID-LEVEL TROUGH TO THE
WEST OF THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. THE ATMOSPHERE OVER THE ISLANDS
REMAINS RIPE FOR THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAINFALL AND POSSIBLE
FLASH FLOODING.

LATEST GFS75 BRINGS PULSES OF HEAVY RAINFALL TO THE ISLANDS OVER THE
COMING WEEK. TODAY…WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY ARE THE DAYS THESE PULSES
ARRIVE…COINCIDING WITH THE FORECAST FORMATION AND PASSAGE OF SHORT
WAVES ALOFT. THE FORECAST CALLS FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF HEAVY
RAINFALL AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH TODAY. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH
REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH MONDAY EVENING. SHORTER TERM WARNING AND
ADVISORY PRODUCTS ARE BEING ISSUED AS NEEDED FOR THE LOCALLY HEAVY
RAIN WHICH COULD LEAD TO FLOODING ON THE SATURATED AREAS OF THE
INDIVIDUAL ISLANDS. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR ISSUANCE
FOR YOUR AREA.

OK, a short break from the dam break watch, and back to national politics for a bit and a little bit of comic relief. Maybe I’ve been a little too hard on President Bush. There has to be a reason why he’s been acting so irrationally. Andy Borowitz has a solution. He seems to suggest that Bush should go to his doctor and get himself off Ambien.

Update: Here’s the real story about Ambien. And BTC News talks about an article that appeared in Slate talking about this same thing. Borowitz must be psychic.

Heavy rain continues to fall on Kauai, which is under a flash flood warning until 7:45 PM HST tonight. A round-up of the day’s action on Kauai in the aftermath of the Kaloko Dam break:

• The male body found shortly after Tuesday’s dam break has been identified as that of Alan Dingwall. Still no word yet as to the identity of the second body.
• Waikomo Stream, into which the Waita Reservoir near Koloa empties, has overflowed its banks. Officials have started voluntary evacuations in Koloa, Kalaheo, and Waimea, all on the south shore of the island.
• Workers continue to drain water from Morita Reservoir, downstream of compromised Kaloko Reservoir. Eventually, Mayor Bryan Baptiste would like the dam to be dismantled.
• Gov. Linda Lingle intends to ask the Legislature tomorrow for emergency funds for cleanup, recovery, and investigation of the dam break.
• State civil defense officials intend to perform emergency inspections of all dams, including those on private property.

Elsewhere around the blogosphere:

An entry from a high school friend of Aurora Fehring.

Vraxxlog:

Even when we try to be cautious and protective of our resources it seems that the best knowledge is still only available in hindsight. Hopefully the state gets ahead of the game sooner rather than later, as estimates are that a second dam will burst soon.

The dam break has caused one blogger to cancel her vacation to Kauai.

Aaron at Lifelike Pundits uses the story to sarcastically take a swipe at people who criticize President Bush.

More to come, if I can slog through the mindless blog-o-bots listed on Technorati that do nothing more than just parrot the stories published online…a rant on this would an entry in itself.

• A second body has been recovered from the waters off Kilauea Bay. from a nearby streambed. (corrected 3/16/06 12:00pm)
• One lane of Kuhio Highway has now been re-opened, ending the day-long isolation of the north shore of Kauai.
• You can make a donation to the Red Cross relief effort by going to http://www.hawaiiredcross.org. (Be careful that you go to hawaiiredcross.org and NOT hawaiiredcross.com; the latter may send you to pop-up hell when you click your back button.)

Today’s stories about the disaster:

• “Search efforts continue after Hawaii dam bursts,” MSNBC
• “2nd dam failure feared,” Honolulu Advertiser
• “Crisis on Kauai,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin

The water from Kaloko Reservoir had no sooner started to rage than the fingers have started to point. The question is simple: could the Kaloko Reservoir dam break on Kauai been prevented? Sure it could have. But then from there the question become: Who do we blame for it?

My own answer: no one. Not yet, at least.

There are two main schools of thought here, and there is no doubt some overlap. I’ll cover one here.

Did construction near the reservoir led to its collapse? User LikaNui at HawaiiThreads has dredged up some dirt (so to speak) that seems to suggest that the disaster that happened today may not have just been bad luck and heavy rains, but something that could have been prevented. And commenter Bill Moake concurs.

Some background: Retired Hawaii auto dealer James Pflueger decided that certain parts of his land were too steep, so he set about grading them. The only thing is that he failed to get the necessary permits and guidance from the EPA under the Clean Water Act. As a result, runoff from the site flowed into nearby Pilaa Beach and polluted the bay. Certain environmental interests, and the EPA, were not happy, to put it mildly.

In all, Pflueger has had to pay over $12 million in claims and fines. The EPA called it the largest single settlement against a single landowner regarding a single site.

The connection: Pflueger had apparently done some grading work around Kaloko Reservoir without the proper permits. Yes, the same Kaloko Reservoir that burst yesterday. The two major papers both mentioned this fact in their reports, but the jury’s still out as to whether it was THE cause of the break. At first glance, the EPA doesn’t think so:

“We don’t believe the failure of the dam is related to any of the work done by Pflueger in that area,” said Dean Higuchi, spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, one of the many agencies that announced Pflueger’s $7.5 million settlement March 9.

But I’m sure this is not going to be the final word on the matter. Nor should it. It’s definitely worth investigating. But not now.

Of course, more investigation is needed here as to the cause of the dam breaking. Maybe it could just be the rains…we’ve received as much rain in the past three weeks as we would normally get in the first three months of the year. But there’ll be time enough to cry over spilled milk…uh, water. Let’s let the emergency responders do their job first.

(originally written 3/14/06 7:13 p.m.)

And now, our weather woes have gone national.

An earthen dam on Kauai, most likely weakened by heavy rains, broke this morning at around 5:30 without warning, turning 300 million gallons of water from the Kaloko Reservoir into a 150-yard wide river of water tumbling downhill, destroying everything in its path. One person has been confirmed dead, and as many as seven people are still missing.

It’s hard to believe that this disaster may cause more loss of life than even Hurricane Iniki. Four of the six people killed during Iniki were from Kauai. We may have as many as eight dead there, maybe more.

The water forced the closure of Kuhio Highway on Kauai’s north shore, stranding many residents and tourists. Mayor Bryan Baptiste has declared an emergency.

Stories about the dam break:

• “Dam break causes flash flood washing away homes“, The Garden Island
• “One dead, 7 missing after Kaua’i dam burst“, Honolulu Advertiser
• “Up to 7 lost in flooding on Kauai“, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
• “One dead, 7 missing after Hawaii dam bursts“, CNN
• “Huge flood after Hawaii dam bursts“, MSNBC

UPDATE 3/14/06 8:52 p.m.: Reading the stories again, the dam breached between 5:30 and 6:00. Updated to reflect. Search and rescue teams have been activated and sent to Kauai. Also, a fund has been set up to help victims of the flood. Details here.

UPDATE 3/14/06 10:11 p.m.: KHON is reporting that officials are saying that nearby Morita Reservoir is overflowing, as a chain reaction. The Waita Reservoir on the south shore is also being watched closely, as a dam breach or overtop would subject Koloa to flash flooding as well.

Condolences go to Sen. Daniel Inouye, our tireless representative in the Senate, on the loss of his wife of 57 years.

Goodness. Maybe it’s time I took a vacation to someplace dry, like Seattle. The weather would probably be marginally better than it is here.

As if the soaking that we got a week and a half ago wasn’t enough, a soaking that the residents of the windward coast of Oahu are still mopping up from, there’s more wet stuff headed our way.

THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR

• ALL THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
• THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON
• A DEVELOPING LOW ALOFT WILL BRING HEAVY RAINFALL AND THE THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING TO ALL OF THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS THIS WEEK.
• WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAIN IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN TONIGHT AFFECTING ALL ISLANDS.

A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. TAKE PRECAUTIONS NOW TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY. BE PREPARED TO TAKE QUICK ACTION IF A WARNING IS ISSUED OR YOU OBSERVE HEAVY
RAIN.

REPORT FLOODING TO POLICE OR CIVIL DEFENSE OFFICIALS FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

THIS WATCH WILL BE UPDATED AT 4 AM TUESDAY MORNING…OR SOONER IF NECESSARY.

And just yesterday, Mother Nature decided that the leeward coast should suffer too. A freak gust of wind blowing down off the Waianae mountains blew down 13 utility poles in Nanakuli, some of which crushed passing cars. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. Farrington Highway was closed for the rest of the afternoon and evening, while emergency crews from Hawaiian Electric worked on repairing the broken poles. Props to the military for opening the road going over Kolekole Pass to bypass the obstruction. But after several incidents that have closed Farrington in the past, it’s time to consider some way to provide some bypasses.

I pity the people who chose this week to vacation here in Hawaii. This is definitely not the typical Hawaiian weather they were expecting.

Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin has decided to draft a resolution that censures the president…in effect, slapping him on the wrist and saying, “Don’t you ever tap our phones without a warrant again.”

True, this resolution doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in Honolulu of passing. Joe at The Moderate Voice put together a whole list of points, but basically he contends that it won’t get very far:

Prospect: It’ll generate a lot of news stories, inspire many blog posts but unless Harry Reid and some Democratic hard-hitters like Hillary Clinton go along with it, it probably won’t go too far. If Reid gets solidly behind it, that might help. But, at this points, its chances of passage are zilch.

But really, from the “How you figga?” department, comes this quote from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, speaking in total opposition to the resolution:

“The signal that it sends, that there is in any way a lack of support for our commander in chief who is leading us with a bold vision in a way that is making our homeland safer, is wrong,” Frist said.

This coming from a Senate leader who all but led a vote of no-confidence in the President during Portgate? This coming from a leader of a Congress who thought the administration was making our homeland less safe?

Online storage and universal access to your data may now be possible with the yet-to-be-formally-released GDrive from Google. User Friendly, the Dilbert of the tech set, gives this take on it. Only question I have is this: what the heck is “pron”?