Friday Hurricane Update

Rain. Rain. Rain. That's it, folks. 

The hurricane has turned out to be a long extended rain storm for my location. Over 6 inches of rain, total, so far. That's nothing. And since the hurricane has stalled, we're looking at several more days of rain to come from this storm. Luckily the hurricane has stayed offshore, so there's been no damaging winds. Just rain. Our brisk tradewinds are far stronger than what I've gotten so far from this hurricane. 

The east side of Big Island is taking the brunt of the rain. While the national news is reporting over 30 inches of rain, that's only in one location. Most areas are getting far less. But 10"-20" is nothing to sneeze at. It's still a lot of rain! 

Flooding. Again, the national news makes it sound like there's major flooding all over. Yes, there is flooding. But it is in locations where flooding is no surprise. We have drainage gulches here that are for the purpose of drainage.....thus called drainage ditches. The natural gulches act as grand drainage ditches, and they're presently gushing with rain runoff. They are doing their job. Most flooding is occurring in low areas, or areas were human activity has interfered with nature's drainage system. The only area where water is accumulating on my farm is where a previous owner bulldozed, thus compacting the cinder and crushing small lava tubes. I've since created drainage channels, so that wet area isn't flooding anymore. I'm not aware of any flooding in my region except where people have blocked or ruined drainage systems. 

Landslides. There been some here and there. None in my area. The slides have been small, but large enough to put debris in the roadways. Until they can be cleared off, the roads are closed. That wouldn't be a big deal on the mainland, but here on Big Island it's a major headache. You see, we don't have very many roadways here and often no way to get around blockages. 

So, the hurricane is lying offshore. When it starts moving again, the weather guys are expecting it to make a left hand turn away from the islands. I hope for Oahu and Kauai's sake, the turn occurs sooner rather than later. Even if the hurricane downgrades to a 1, they surely don't need to take a hit. 

11:00 am map update........