HONOLULU (KHON2) — The City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Facility Maintenance went from cleaning up to cleaning out waterways ahead of the latest storm to hit the islands.
“DFM went straight from cleanup operations in Wailua and Haleiwa to storm prep operations all across the island,” said Ian Scheuring, the City and County’s deputy communications director. “We had crews still stay up on the North Shore, and part of the debris removal operation they were doing for the last two or three weeks involved stream cleaning. There was a lot of debris from that storm that remained in those streams, and of course, with the prospect of heavy rains, we need to get those cleared up so that we prevented any future flooding in those neighborhoods. But stream cleaning and debris clearing operations went on in all parts of the island. We were out in Waianae, and mainly just a couple of days ago, with giant machinery doing stream mouth clearing in Maili and then at Pokai Bay. “
This time, Scheuring says emergency crews have been pre-staged at problematic areas to cut down on wait times in case of evacuations…