Heavy rains ease, rescue efforts improve after Hawaii storm
HONOLULU — Heavy rains on Kauai let up on Monday, which helped emergency workers better rescue people stranded by flooding on the Hawaiian island.
By Monday afternoon, emergency crews evacuated 152 people by helicopter, 121 people by bus and others by water, according to the governor’s office.
Officials were warning people who wanted to be evacuated that it’s not known when they can return because of landslides blocking Kuhio Highway on the island’s north shore.
Forty people, mostly tourists, were stuck since Saturday night at a Red Cross shelter in an elementary school in the north shore town of Hanalei. Plans to airlift them out of the school, which was surrounded by water, were abandoned because severe weather grounded helicopters, said Coralie Matayoshi, CEO of American Red Cross of Hawaii.