Flash Flood, Honolulu
- When
- March 2, 5:36 AM HST to 10:02 PM HST
- Where
- Honolulu County, Kahuku
- Reported by
- EMERGENCY MANAGER
- Coordinates
- 21.683, -157.950
Flash Flood in Hawaii, March 2, 2006
Heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms flooded Kamehameha Highway near Waikane, closing the roadway for a time. Scores of homes were flooded in windward sections of Oahu.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. 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.
Heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms flooded Kamehameha Highway near Waikane, closing the roadway for a time. Scores of homes were flooded in windward sections of Oahu. Several schools were forced to close because of the wet conditions. Damage estimates were not available. No serious injuries were reported.
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 Mar 2, 4:00 AM HST, 1 hour 36 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Mar 2, 4:00 AM HST, 1 hour 36 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 400 AM HST THU MAR 2 2006 .SYNOPSIS... A TROUGH WEST OF THE ISLANDS CONTINUES TO CREATE MOIST SOUTHEAST FLOW AND UNSTABLE CONDITIONS. THE TROUGH IS BRINGING A THREAT OF HEAVY RAIN OVER OAHU AND KAUAI COUNTY AND PRODUCING CLOUDY SKIES OVER ALL THE ISLANDS. UNSETTLED WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT. THE TROUGH WILL SLOWLY MOVE WEST AND WEAKEN ALLOWING TRADE WINDS AND DRIER WEATHER TO SPREAD WEST OVER THE ISLANDS ON FRIDAY. && .DISCUSSION... A DEEP TROUGH IS CENTERED 1100 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF KAUAI. THE TROUGH IS PRODUCING UNSTABLE CONDITIONS OVER THE KAUAI END OF THE CHAIN. SOUTHEAST FLOW EAST OF THE TROUGH IS BRINGING LOTS OF MOISTURE OVER THE ISLANDS. WITH THE SOUTHEAST FLOW...CLOUD PLUMES ARE EXTENDING WEST NORTHWEST FROM THE BIG ISLAND AND THE ISLANDS OF MAUI COUNTY AND MOVING OVER KAUAI AND OAHU. SOME OF THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL HAS BEEN OCCURRING IN THESE PLUMES. HEAVY RAIN HAS ALSO BEEN FALLING OVER NORTHEAST OAHU...WHERE THE SOUTHEAST TO NORTHWEST ORIENTATION OF THE KOOLAU MOUNTAINS FOCUSES THE RAIN. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR KAUAI COUNTY AND OAHU. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING OVER THE ISLANDS HAS INCREASED THE WINDS OVER THE HIGH MOUNTAINS OF THE BIG ISLAND SO A WIND ADVISORY HAS BEEN ISSUED. THE COMPUTER MODELS REMAIN CONSISTENT IN SHOWING THE TROUGH WEAKENING AND MOVING OFF TO THE WEST. MEANWHILE...A SURFACE HIGH FAR NORTH OF THE ISLANDS WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST. AS THE TROUGH MOVES AWAY AND THE HIGH MOVES SOUTHEAST...THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME DRIER AND MORE STABLE AND THE LOW LEVEL FLOW WILL BACK TO A TYPICAL EAST NORTHEAST TRADE-WIND DIRECTION. THE THREAT OF HEAVY RAIN WILL END FRIDAY MORNING. TRADE WIND WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK. A SHEARLINE MAY MOVE SOUTH OVER THE ISLANDS MONDAY AND INCREASE WINDWARD SHOWERS. BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK...THE COMPUTER MODELS SHOW A TROUGH REDEVELOPING WEST OF KAUAI. THE WIND MAY BRIEFLY VEER TO EAST SOUTHEAST NEAR KAUAI AND OAHU BUT IT LOOKS LIKE TRADE WINDS WILL SPREAD BACK OVER THE ISLANDS BY THE END OF THE WEEK. && .MARINE... A HIGH SURF ADVISORY...A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY AND A MARINE WEATHER STATEMENT WILL BE EXTENDED THROUGH 6 PM THURSDAY EVENING DUE TO A LARGE NORTH NORTHEAST SWELL. MODEL GUIDANCE SHOWS THE NORTH NORTHEAST SWELL GRADUALLY DECREASING SO WE MAY ABLE TO DROP ALL THREE PRODUCTS BY THIS EVENING. && .HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM HST THURSDAY FOR THE SUMMITS OF MAUNA KEA AND MAUNA LOA. HIGH SURF ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM HST THURSDAY FOR EAST FACING SHORES OF ALL ISLANDS EXCEPT LANAI AND KAHOOLAWE. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY MOST HAWAIIAN WATERS UNTIL 6 PM HST THURSDAY FOR SEAS GREATER THAN 10 FT. FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR NIIHAU KAUAI AND OAHU THROUGH 4 PM THURSDAY. && DONALDSON
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
- Heavy Snow in New York, March 2, 2006
- Strong Wind in Maryland, March 2, 2006
- Strong Wind in West Virginia, March 2, 2006
- Wildfire in Virginia, March 2, 2006
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in New Jersey, March 2, 2006
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in Pennsylvania, March 2, 2006
- Heavy Snow in New York, March 2, 2006
- Winter Storm in Connecticut, March 2, 2006
- Winter Storm in Michigan, March 2, 2006
- Heavy Snow in Michigan, March 2, 2006
- Heavy Rain in California, March 2 to 31, 2006
- Winter Storm and Winter Weather in California, March 2 to 3, 2006
More
Every storm in Hawaii in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Hawaii, March 2006
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: 5495531.