Highways

HONOLULU – The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) advises motorists statewide of the potential for coastal flooding along all shores of the main Hawaiian Islands from Tuesday, Nov. 26 through Friday, Nov. 29, 2019. The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement alerting Hawaii residents and visitors of potential coastal flooding impacts (available at https://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=hfo&wwa=special%20weather%20statement).

Drivers on Kauai and Niihau should also note that there is also a Flash Flood Watch in effect for Kauai County from 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26 though late Wednesday, Nov. 27.

HDOT reminds drivers of the following when driving in adverse conditions:

• Never go through standing or moving water on the road. There may be dangers you can’t see beneath the water such as a road washout, debris, tree branches, or power lines. Flood waters can also affect a vehicle’s mechanisms years after the initial contact and may not always present a problem right away.
• If you are driving through an area with shallow ponding, slow down to avoid hydroplaning and allow for increased stopping distance. If you cannot see the road or road markings through the water, do not try to drive through. Remember, stopping distance (the length of road your vehicle travels between when you press on the brake and your vehicle comes to a complete stop) increases when roads are wet.

HDOT crews are on standby to respond to reports of debris caused by overtopping on state roadways. By island, roads that are typically affected by coastal flooding include, but are not limited to:

• Hawaii Island – Bayfront Highway (Route 19) in Hilo.
• Maui – Honoapiilani Highway (Route 30) between Ukumehame and Olowalu
• Oahu – Farrington Highway (Route 93) in Nanakuli and Makaha; Kamehameha Highway (Route 83) from Hauula to Kualoa
• Kauai – Kuhio Highway (Route 560) in the vicinity of the Hanalei Bridge; Kuhio Highway (Route 560) at Waikoko

HDOT recommends that all drivers check weather reports before getting on the road and sign up for emergency notifications for their respective City or County. The links to the counties’ emergency notification systems are:

County of Hawaii (Big Island) – https://countyofhawaii.bbcportal.com/

County of Maui – https://www.mauicounty.gov/AlertCenter.aspx

City and County of Honolulu – https://hnl.info/

County of Kauai – https://countyofkauai.bbcportal.com/

In the case of substantial, sustained closures of state routes (e.g., full emergency closure of a state highway lasting more than a couple hours), HDOT will issue emergency closure information through GovDelivery, Twitter, and Facebook. To sign up for GovDelivery notifications from HDOT, visit https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/hidot/subscriber/new

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