Kauai community cut off from island after landslide blocks main road

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 3:35 PM PT – Saturday, March 13, 2021

A community on the Hawaiian island of Kauai has been, once again, cut off from the rest of the island after a landslide blocked the main road.

This week, part of the Kuhio Highway was shut down as authorities worked to access the damage, remove debris and stabilize slopes. The highway closure then blocked off the town of Hanalei from the rest of the island.

This came just days after heavy rain caused a major landslide and forced several residents to evacuate over severe flooding.

A mudslide leaves Kamehameha Highway coated near Pokole Point on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, near Kahaluu, Hawaii. The entire state was under a flash flood watch amid heavy rains expected to last through Wednesday morning. (Craig T. Kojima/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)

Although there were no injuries or deaths, officials said it damaged several bridges and roadways while destroying multiple homes.

“You can see up on top we’re starting to lay some plastic that we’re going to spread out to ensure we minimize the water that comes down to it,” Ed Sniffen of the Hawaii Department of Transportation stated. “The single lane access will be established in this area. We’ll put up barriers on the upside slope and on the lower side slope because the guardrails are gone. We’ll put up lighting in this area and we’re putting up an early alert system, a GPS cellular system, that will give us any alerts if we see any slope movements during that time.”

People stand at the edge of floodwaters along Haleiwa Road on Tuesday, March 9, 2021, in Haleiwa, Hawaii. Torrential rains have inundated parts of Hawaii for the past several days. (Jamm Aquino/Honolulu Star-Advertiser via AP)

The highway closure will remain in place through Tuesday. In the meantime, the county is working to bring in additional food and medical supplies as needed.

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