Rains Continue To Pound Hawaii

HONOLULU -- Heavy rain caused flooding in several parts of Oahu early Sunday.

The rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning, began falling on West Oahu at around midnight. The rain then moved to East Oahu, where authorities briefly closed Kamehameha Highway at around 4:45 a.m. after the Waikane Stream overflowed.

Several Windward Oahu rain gauges reported up to 3 inches of rain in the period between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. Sunday.

East Oahu was under a flash flood warning for most of early Sunday morning, but the warning was allowed to expire at 9:45 a.m. after the rain eased up as the shower band continued eastward toward Maui County.

Rain also fell Saturday for Kauai, with showers continuing through Sunday morning on the Garden Isle.

The rain is associated with a Kona or cutoff low pressure system centered 400 miles north-norrthwest of Kauai. An associated trough is slowly moving eastward over the island chain as the low drifts slowly southeast. The National Weather Service says the trough has a 220 mile wide cloud band with embedded thunderstorms that will affect the state Sunday.

The low is forecast to remain near the state for the next few days, bringing unsettled weather and the chance of heavy rain, thunderstorms and flash flooding, possibly through late Tuesday. The weather service is keeping a flash flood watch posted for all islands until then.

Stay with KITV 4 Island Weather, TheHawaiiChannel.com and KITV's 24-hour weather channel, Island Weather Now, digital channel 126, for updates on the storm.

Selected Rainfall Totals

All totals are in inches and cover the 12-hour period from 8 p.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday.

Kauai:

Lihue Variety Station 1.05
Wailua 1.05.
Mount Waialeale 1.03
Hanapepe .95
Lihue Airport .86
Opaekaa Stream .86
Wainiha .86
Kokee .84

Oahu:

Waihee Pump 8.55
Ahuimanu Loop 8.54
Hakipuu Mauka 8.42
Punaluu Pump 8.16
Oahu Forest NWR 7.36
Poamoho #2 7.33
Kaneohe Marine Corps Base 7.10
South Fork Kaukonahua Stream 6.70
Waimanalo 6.36
Palisades 6.12
Olomana Fire Station 5.98
Waiawa Correctional Facility 5.34
Mililani 5.33
Schofield Barracks 5.11
Maunawili 4.97
St. Stephens 4.67
Wheeler Army Airfield 4.62
Waipio 4.08
Niu Valey 4.05

Stay with KITV 4 Island Weather, TheHawaiiChannel.com and KITV's 24-hour weather channel, Island Weather Now, on Oceanic digital channel 126, for updates on the storm.