South Maui shoreline hit hard in kona low storm: ‘It’s just total chaos.’

Daniel Baralt has lived in South Maui for more than 20 years, but when he walked out of his apartment at Haleakalā Gardens in Kīhei early Saturday morning, he couldn’t believe Kūlanihākoʻi Street had turned into a roaring river.

“It’s just total chaos,” he said.

Two sedans and two trucks looked like they were playing floating bumping cars. A white truck was smashed into a pink, storage container that was in the middle of the road. And, a grey van had smacked into a fire hydrant, which was spewing water into the air like a fountain.

“There was so much force that it just took the cars and just played with them like toys,” Baralt said. “And there’s a 40-foot container sitting right over here. A 40-foot container is huge, massive and weighs how many tons? And the water just played with it like a little toy boat.”

The roaring water, much of it starting high on 10,000-foot Haleakalā, was a maroon-brown color from collecting sand, sediment and who knows what else along the way.

Gulches that were dry a few days ago were filled with water speeding downhill like it was going over Niagara Falls.

The water and mud that didn’t end up flowing into people’s yards and parking lots ended up in the ocean, turning the nearshore waters that same maroon-brown color.

The mud was more than a foot deep in some places in the parking lot of Haleakalā Gardens. It felt like quick sand trying to walk through it. Even the birds and chickens were having a difficult time.

While Baralt and several others were looking at the damage, the rain began to come down in buckets again.

One young couple from the Czech Republic was trying to cross S. Kīhei Road to get to the condo they were staying in just 100 yards away. But the force of the water made crossing the street dangerous.

In 2023, 24-year-old firefighter Tre Evans-Dumaran was swept into a storm drain while working during a flood. He was retrieved 800 yards away from where the storm drain ended near the shoreline at Kūlanihākoiʻi Street, just across the street from where the couple was standing. Evans-Dumaran would die eight days later in a hospital from his injuries.

The visitors who spoke limited English walked away not knowing what to do.

On Saturday morning, many areas of S. Kīhei Road were impassable, although many vehicles tried. One Jeep was so stuck in mud it was just left abandoned at the north end of the road, while another car was across the street in a ditch.

The rain continued most of the day with the winds picking up. By mid afternoon, Kalama Park was a maroon-brown pond.

With the power out Friday night into Saturday morning, many businesses in S. Kihei were closed. Some started to reopen as the power returned.

At the end of Līpoa Street, about eight young men were shoveling beach sand into white garbage bags to create makeshift sandbags for a home. One man who did not want to be identified said his house already had a foot of water in it.

The north end of S. Kīhei Road experienced especially bad flooding. The Kīhei Youth Center looked like it had a moat around it.

Many places the sides of the road were washed out. One white van literally had the ground beneath it washed away, leaving it sideways in the carved out gulch. The Kīhei Canoe Club also had a new washout, but all its canoes had been taken to safer ground.

The ABC stores and surrounding businesses which are normally swarming with visitors at this time of year were shuttered. This area, which always is prone to flooding, will have to dig out again.

At the north end of S. Kihei Road, a sign in the mud said: “When Flooded Turn Around Don’t Drown.”

Just a few yards away, the road was split in two by roaring water making its way to the ocean.

For Sunday, more rain is in the forecast.