HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A month and a half after the second Kona Low storms, farmers and property owners in Pearl City say they still need help.

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Casanna Gao described how floodwaters crested Waiawa stream and ran over her two-acre watercress farm as she struggled to document it with her phone.

“If you don’t get the evidence, if you don’t get the picture, people don’t trust you, even though I stand like this,” Gao said.

Gao’s daughter, Aliya, said the flood was unusual because it came from above the farm instead of backing up from below.

“I was kind of in shock actually, because I knew, like, something like this happened 37 years ago,” Aliya Gao said.

Damage threatens farm operations

Gao farms for love — it’s not her main livelihood — but the damage was considerable. Fencing was destroyed, piping from the fresh water well was ripped apart, and the watercress can’t grow again until the mud that now fills the ponds is removed.

Waiawa residents and a church property nearby have dealt with flooding blamed on debris caught at a bridge under the Pearl Harbor bikeway.

The state says it does clear that bridge, although this year neighbors also pitched in.

The portion of the stream that runs past the Gao farm has very high banks that can usually contain the flow, but not this time.

Damage to trees next to the stream show that it rose well over the makai bank, bringing tons of debris including concrete, asphalt and cinder blocks into the farms.

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The family fears it won’t contain the next flood either.

“It must have come up very high, because they block the river, the tree, the rubbish, the grass, build slowly, slowly, and then the higher, of course, the water cannot go,” Casanna Gao said.

“I realized that it’s just a lot of debris that’s coming up from here and blocking the water from flowing freely,” Aliya Gao said.

‘These kinds of areas get forgotten’

A huge amount of debris has created a dam that entirely crosses the stream, leaving the area still at risk for flooding. The debris includes long steel beams and concrete barriers, along with full-sized trees. The stream bed walls are also unstable and ready to slide down.

The family invited state Rep. Cory Chun to see for himself.

“Sometimes it’s out of sight, out of mind, right? And so sometimes, you know, these kinds of areas get forgotten,” said Chun, who represents Waiawa and Pearl City.

Along the stream, makeshift structures, shipping containers and vehicles are piled along the opposite side. In the water was heavy equipment and random junk, including an unrecognizable vehicle. In several places, vegetation and debris nearly clogged the stream.

“It’s looking at the entire storm water and irrigation systems that we have and trying to make sure that we can at least, if not upgrade them, at least try to maintain them, to make sure these things don’t happen again,” Chun said.

The state land department says streamside property owners are responsible to keep debris out of waterways, even if the stream is state jurisdiction. The department says it is reminding owners to keep the stream beds clear.

“None of the debris from the stream has been cleaned up. And so every single time it rains, like this, and it doesn’t stop, then a flood’s gonna happen again,” Aliya Gao said.

The state says it is responsible for cleaning the stream, and its first contracts for regular stream clearing on Oahu are now seeking bidders.

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It’s unclear how long it will take to clean up the mess in Waiawa.