Manoa Stream cleanup begins months after severe flooding

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Hawaii Department of Transportation has begun flood mitigation activities along Manoa Stream near Woodlawn Drive to clear debris and reestablish the waterway’s channel.

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The project, which began Monday, Aug. 3, is being coordinated by HDOT and the City and County of Honolulu Department of Facility Maintenance.

Crews will work Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. to clear the streambed over a four-and-a-half-month schedule, weather permitting.

Officials said the work will include removing trees, rocks, and brush along the streambed and existing walls, regrading adjacent slopes, and dredging the stream to reestablish the channel bottom.

Historic flash flooding inundated properties, schools

The work comes after the neighborhood was inundated during the Kona low storms in March.

Floodwaters rushed through the valley, turning school walkways into streams, submerging cars and making roads impassable.

Flood damage forced Noelani Elementary School to close for a week.

The disaster fueled residents’ calls for better gauges along the stream and an improved emergency notification system.

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Project phases and schedule

The mitigation project is divided into three distinct phases:

Phase One (August to late September): Work will take place near the baseball fields at Manoa District Park. Crews will start on the downstream portion of the stream adjacent to the park and work upstream toward the Kahaloa Drive bridge. This phase is expected to take about two months.

Phase Two (Late September to mid-October): Crews will work near Woodlawn Drive, starting downstream of the bridge by the USDA fruit fly laboratory and UH Housing Apartments and working upstream toward the Woodlawn Drive bridge.

Phase Three (Mid-October to early December): Work will occur along the portion of the stream between Manoa Marketplace and the Manoa Innovation Center. Crews will begin at the Woodlawn Drive bridge and work upstream toward the McDonald’s area.

Funding and traffic controls

Funding for the Manoa Stream project and other stream mitigations is provided through a $9.5 million allocation from the state’s Major Disaster Fund, authorized by Gov. Josh Green and the state legislature.

Special duty police officers will be on-site to assist with traffic control and safety procedures during the project, and electronic message boards will be posted to notify motorists of any planned closures.

Residents with questions about the mitigation work can contact the Department of Facility Maintenance at (808) 766-3343 or [email protected].

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