Flash Flood, Honolulu
- When
- August 15, 12:30 PM HST to 2:00 PM HST
- Where
- Honolulu County, Waianae
- Coordinates
- 21.455, -157.961 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Hawaii, August 15, 1997
Significant road and stream flooding occurred from heavy showers and thunderstorms in the Makakilo and Nanakuli areas. Water to 4 feet deep flooded parts of the Farrington Highway in Nanakuli.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS HFO wrote it up.
Significant road and stream flooding occurred from heavy showers and thunderstorms in the Makakilo and Nanakuli areas. Water to 4 feet deep flooded parts of the Farrington Highway in Nanakuli. A WSR-88D rainfall estimate of 6 inches per hour was corroborated by a weather spotter in Makakilo who measured 5.8 inches during the same time period.
The radar
The Molokai radar (PHMO), 88 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:28 UTC.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornado in Pennsylvania, August 15, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Winds in West Virginia, August 15, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Missouri, August 15 to 16, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, August 15, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, August 15, 1997
- Damaging Wind in Iowa, August 15, 1997
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, August 15, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Wisconsin, August 15, 1997
- Lightning Strike in Florida, August 15, 1997
- Lightning Strike in Hawaii, August 15, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Minnesota, August 15, 1997
- Damaging Winds in Georgia, August 15, 1997
More
Every storm in Hawaii in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Hawaii, August 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5626203.