Weather wallops West Hawaii

KAILUA-KONA — Lora Robertson and her husband, Dale, were home when lightning struck their home on Kaloko Drive in Kailua-Kona this past weekend.

“We just sat there hanging on to each other, hoping it wouldn’t crash into the house,” Robertson recalled Monday.

Hawaii Island was struck by a storm system Sunday evening. According to the National Weather Service, the system was triggered by low-level moisture combined with a strong upper-level disturbance that produced widespread slow-moving heavy rain and thunderstorms.

A flash flood watch remained posted through Monday afternoon.

The lightning started hitting Robertson’s home about 7:30 p.m. She said it hit somewhere on the house and there was a huge flash.

“I thought a transformer blew, but it blew out the main breaker,” she said. “It blew the panel right off the main breaker.”

The lightning struck the house several times until about 8 p.m.

The strikes blew out the refrigerator, a new washing machine, microwave, plug-in circuits and the landline phone. Robertson said their computer and TV survived because they were connected to surge protectors.

“We had night lights and they blew out and shattered,” she added.

On Monday, the couple spent the day replacing utilities and restoring power.

“We’ve been hit before, about 10 years ago, but not this bad,” Robertson said. “I’m thankful it didn’t crash through the house.”

High winds also impacted properties in West Hawaii. Ken Love, executive director of Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers, has a farm in Kealakekua. He said five shade houses were blown down and a few plants were damaged during the early morning hours of Monday.

Later in the day, Love had friends over, helping him get the shade houses back up.

“The framing was down and twisted,” he said. “It was easier to take everything apart and start over.”

Love said the wind was at its worst about 1:30 a.m. Cost to repair the framing is about $200.

“In the 30-some years I’ve been here, I haven’t seen the Kona winds like this,” he said. “At least my house is still standing.”

Residents also reported fallen trees as a result of the storm. Holualoa resident Fern Gavelek said two trees in the Keopu area of Holualoa were uprooted.

Gavelek added her neighborhood received 3.2 inches of rain during the storm, with a brief power outage as well as an overnight cable outage.

Hawaii Police Department Maj. Robert Wagner said police received reports of downed trees and lights out at intersections. Video posted on Facebook showed a large tree covering the makai lane of Henry Street near Palani Road in Kailua-Kona.

National Weather Service forecaster Peter Donaldson said that about 6 p.m., as the thunderstorm moved ashore, wind speeds of 28 knots (32 mph) and gusts to about 38 knots (43 mph) were recorded at Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport.

“We had a lot of rain and a lot of thunder and there were some unusual winds because of the fact we had the thunderstorms and thunderstorms produce their own winds,” Donaldson said.

Rain totals for the past 24 hours as of Monday morning were Honokaa with 5.8 inches, Kealakomo with 2.37 inches, Kona airport with 1.71 inches and Kahua Ranch in North Kohala with 3.83 inches.

Email Tiffany DeMasters at tdemasters@westhawaiitoday.com.