Flash Flood, Maui
- When
- October 17, 2:28 AM HST to 5:30 AM HST
- Where
- Maui County, 2 mi WNW of Kaunakakai
- Property damage
- $70,000
- Reported by
- GENERAL PUBLIC
- Coordinates
- 20.868, -156.617 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Hawaii, October 17, 2002
Heavy showers and thunderstorms flooded streams and several homes in Kalamaula on the isle of Molokai. One resident reported water levels up to 9 feet deep on his property, with 3 to 4 feet of water on the bottom floor of a two-story house.
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
- $70,000
- 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.
Heavy showers and thunderstorms flooded streams and several homes in Kalamaula on the isle of Molokai. One resident reported water levels up to 9 feet deep on his property, with 3 to 4 feet of water on the bottom floor of a two-story house. No serious injuries were reported, however.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Honolulu, HI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 16, 8:30 PM HST, 5 hours 58 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 16, 8:30 PM HST, 5 hours 58 minutes before
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</html>The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
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
More
Every storm in Hawaii in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Hawaii, October 2002
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5325181.