By Jennifer Calfas and Joseph Pisani
Torrential rain in Hawaii's Oahu caused a historic flood that drenched communities and forced residents to evacuate, state leaders said Friday, as more rain was forecast to fall.
Gov. Josh Green said the flood is Hawaii's largest in two decades and could cause $1 billion in damage to infrastructure including roads, airports and homes. Rescuers saved 233 people, officials said, with no reported fatalities or missing persons as of Friday. The pouring rain threatened to overtop a dam, sending more water into surrounding communities, as emergency alerts Friday warned of the Wahiawa Dam's possible failure.
"This is a major threat to our people and to our state," Green told reporters Friday. He said water reached as high as people's chests in some areas.
Some homes were ripped off their foundations, said Ian Scheuring, a spokesman for the city and county of Honolulu. Evacuation notices early Friday urged residents in Waialua and Haleiwa, north of Honolulu: "LEAVE NOW or go to high ground or the highest floor of your home." By late Friday, an emergency alert warned all roads out of Waialua were "at risk of failure."
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning through early Saturday for Oahu. The agency issued flood-watch advisories through Sunday afternoon for all of the Hawaiian islands. "Stay vigilant this weekend," forecasts wrote early Saturday.
The storm is the second to affect the Hawaiian islands in a week, said Stephen Parker, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service.
The ground is still wet from the storm last weekend, Parker said, making it difficult for the new rain to be absorbed into the ground and causing streams to overflow.
The northern part of Oahu received 8 to 11 inches of rain Thursday into Friday, Parker said.
"Even for a tropical area, that is a tremendous amount of rain," he said.
Write to Joseph Pisani at joseph.pisani@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 21, 2026 10:58 ET (14:58 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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