2006 — March 14, Ka Loko (Kaloko) Reservoir Earthen Dam Failure, Kauai, HI — 7

–7  Finnegan, Tom. “Suits Distribute Blame for Dam.”  Star Bulletin (Honolulu), 8-11-2006.

–7  Mangieri, Gina. “How has dam safety changed since Kaloko’s deadly breach?” 3-14-2014.

–7  US DHS. Dams Sector: Estimating Loss of Life for Dam Failure Scenarios. 2011, p. 80.

 

Narrative Information

 

US DHS: “Ka Loko Dam was located in the northeast section of the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The dam was of earthfill construction and constructed in 1890 to provide a water supply for sugar cane production.

 

“The dam failed at approximately 5:30 am on Tuesday, March 14, 2006. Sunrise on this day was at 6:47 am The dam, at the time classified as a low hazard potential structure, probably failed from overtopping after several weeks of very unusual, but not unprecedented, rainfall. Failure may have been caused by a reduction in spillway capacity that occurred in the late 1990’s when “earth was moved into the emergency spillway, apparently as part of a grading process that created flat building sites around Ka Loko Reservoir” (Godbey report).[1] Ka Loko Dam, as listed in the National Inventory of Dams, had a dam height of 44 feet and a maximum storage of 1,400 acre-feet.

 

“The warning and evacuation represent a worst-case scenario. Although Kauai was under a flash flood watch when the dam failed, this probably provided no cause for alarm to people downstream of the dam. No one was at the dam when it failed. No warnings were issued in the 3.8-mile flood path between the dam and the Pacific Ocean. Environmental cues may have alerted some people to the danger. The flood made tremendous noise. One person was quoted as saying, ‘It sounded like 10 jet engines coming at us. Trees were cracking. You couldn’t hear yourself talk.’

 

“At least one vehicle was swept off of Kuhio Highway, the main island road located 2.3 miles downstream from the dam. The three occupants survived. Most reports indicate that only two homes were destroyed. The homes were located approximately 2.7 miles downstream of the dam. None of the seven people in these homes at the time of the flood survived.”[2] (US DHS. “Ka Loko Dam, Hawaii – Failed in 2005 [2006],” pp. 79-80 in: Dams Sector: Estimating Loss of Life for Dam Failure Scenarios. Washington, DC: DHS, September 2011.)

 

Newspapers

 

March 15, AP/Song: “Kilauea, Hawaii (AP) – Six dogs and their handlers searched through mud and debris for bodies near the ocean Wednesday, a day after a century-old earthen dam failed, releasing a torrent that swept away houses on two multimillion-dollar properties and cut off the only highway along Kauai’s north shore. Crews worked to pump water from a reservoir behind a second threatened dam downstream, which had already overflowed from the deluge, and people were evacuated from several nearby properties.

 

“Searchers found a man dead among debris in the ocean a half mile offshore late Tuesday and were looking for as many as six other people, some of them children. They hadn’t been seen since the dam on Kaloko Reservoir burst, sending a 50-foot wall of water through luxury residential properties before dawn Tuesday. Authorities had not identified the man or released the names of those missing.

 

“The state’s Civil Defense director, Adjutant General Robert Lee, who flew over the area in a military helicopter with Gov. Linda Lingle and other officials early Wednesday, said the only road giving access to thousands of residents and popular tourist areas was expected to open later in the day with one-lane of traffic. Meanwhile, some tourists and residents were being ferried back and forth by helicopter. Lingle, whose party landed in Kilauea near the break in the road, met with 400 people in a local community center. Some told her the old irrigation reservoirs weren’t needed anymore, but others disagreed.

 

“The governor placed responsibility for repairing and maintaining reservoirs on the private owners but acknowledged the state was failing in its responsibility to monitor the condition of dams, including 60 on Kauai. ‘Are the 60 monitored on a regular basis? They are not,’ she said, noting that the state office responsible has only one full-time employee and a part-time clerk.

 

“The land including the Kaloko Reservoir is owned by Oahu auto dealer Jimmy Pflueger and his relatives, according to property records. Pflueger has been fined or agreed to pay a total of more than $12 million, including a $7.5 million record settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency last week, for damage to beaches and reef from a mudslide caused by unauthorized grading on his property near the reservoir. The grading was at the opposite end of the reservoir from the dam, which makes it unlikely that it contributed to the dam break, said Dean Higuchi, a

spokesman for the EPA. ‘None of the storm water projects contributed to the dam failure, nor did

any of the flooding from the dam failure impact any of the property that is being addressed under our settlement with Mr. Pflueger,’ Higuchi said. ‘It wasn’t part of the dam failure.’ At the meeting with the governor Wednesday, Linda Pasadava, a Kilauea resident, said, ‘It seems to me

and a lot of other people the damage that occurred yesterday is the result of not an act of god but an inaction and action of man.’….

 

“The National Weather Service predicted rain would continue to fall on Kauai through Friday, and flash flood warnings were issued for some areas.

 

“Water broke through the 1890s-era Kaloko dam in the island’s rugged northern hills before dawn Tuesday [March 14]. It flowed down into Morita Reservoir and then over the top of its dam, leaving a path of destruction along about three miles to the sea. From the air, concrete slabs were all that could be seen where large houses and other buildings once stood in a forested area of high-priced properties….

 

“Nearly all of Hawaii’s dams were built early in the past century before federal standards existed or the advent of the state’s program for assessing dam and levee safety, according to Edwin Matsuda, an engineer who heads the state’s safety programs. The 40-foot-high Kaloko Reservoir dam, which captured runoff from small streams, gave way about an hour before dawn Tuesday. Authorities estimated that about 1,400 acre-feet of water poured out of the reservoir, enough water to cover 1,400 acres a foot deep, or more than 60 million cubic feet. ‘You could hear a roar and trees breaking. It was nuts. It was totally loud,’ said Brendan O’Connor, who was awakened by the thunderous sound of rushing water.

 

“Officials feared Morita Reservoir’s dam, located downstream from Kaloko, might also fail.” (AP/Jaymes Song. “Crews Hunt for Victims of Broken Hawaii Dam.” Daily Sitka Sentinel, AK, 3-15-2006, p. 9.)

 

March 16, AP: “Kilauea, Hawaii (AP) — With the rain still falling, officials were closely monitoring the earthen dams in Kauai’s rugged hills after a century-old dam burst and released a thunderous torrent of water that killed at least two people. In the Waita Reservoir, the water rose past 20 feet, just a few inches short of spilling over. A dam along the Morita Reservoir, downstream from the dam that broke on Tuesday, was under dangerous stress as well, officials said. The Army Corps of Engineers and national dam experts were inspecting both, and crews were using pumps to control the water levels at Morita. ‘Everybody’s on edge,’ resident Victoria Stamper said.

 

“The island has no comprehensive warning system for alerting people to the flooding danger or to get them out of harm’s way when a dam breaks, state Sen. Gary L. Hooser said Thursday. ‘The people now are very much aware of the problems,’ he told CNN, but ‘we need to implement a much better warning system.’

 

“Heavy rain had been falling for several days when the plantation-era dam along the Kaloko Reservoir broke early Tuesday without warning, releasing a flood of mud, water and debris that swept away two houses on the island’s lush north shore and cut a three-mile path of destruction to the sea. At least two people were confirmed dead and as many as five others were missing. Paul Burns told The Honolulu Advertiser his sister, Kristina McNeese, was seven months pregnant and getting married Saturday. Her fiancé also was missing.

 

“A man’s body was found Tuesday in a pile of debris a half mile offshore; searchers were looking as far as eight miles out to sea. On Wednesday, the body of a woman was discovered in a stream bed, said Kauai County spokeswoman Mary Daubert.

 

“Nearly all of Hawaii’s dams were built early in the past century before federal or state standards, according to Edwin Matsuda, an engineer who heads the state’s dam safety programs. Many date to the 1890s, when sugar plantations dotted the islands. Like the dam that burst, many are privately owned earthen structures.” (AP. “Crews find second body, inspect old dams after one fails in Hawaii.” Del Rio News-Herald, TX. 3-16-2006, p. 8A.)

 

March 17, AP/Godvin: “Honolulu (AP) — The dam that failed in Hawaii this week, sending a deadly torrent down a Kauai hillside, was listed as one of the 20 lowest-hazard dams ‘in the state, with more than half the state’s 134 dams listed as ‘high hazard.’

 

“State officials also acknowledged Thursday that they had no record of ever inspecting the 1890 Kaloko Reservoir dam, which failed Tuesday. The classification for the reservoir above Kauai’s north shore was released in a list of all 131 dams statewide by the Department of Land and Natural Resources. It means the state expected that a failure of the dam would cause no loss of life and minimal property damage….Kaloko Dam and the Morita Dam below it are among only 20 dams in the state listed in the low-hazard category. Seventy-six dams are classified high-hazard, and 21 as significant hazard. Sixteen are listed as undetermined.

 

“In October, the American Society of Civil Engineers listed only 22 dams in Hawaii with deficiencies that raise high safety concerns. Maj. Gen. Robert G.-‘F. Lee, state adjutant general and Civil Defense chief, said Thursday that a low-hazard classification is based on population downstream that might be harmed rather than the stability of the dam itself. A low-hazard dam, if it fails, is not expected to lead to loss of life or damage to any permanent structures. Significant-hazard dams may cause a limited loss of life and affect only small structures. Failure of a high-hazard dam could cause ‘more than a few’ deaths and extensive damage to community, industry or agriculture. Lee said the state may have to look at the inspection categories and the baseline it uses to determine the potential danger from a dam break.

 

“Two days after the dam break, Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration was still struggling to answer questions about the state’s program for keeping Hawaii’s aging dams safe. It was still unclear Thursday when any inspector had last visited the failed Kaloko Reservoir dam. ‘The state has not inspected it,’ said Peter Young, the state’s top land official. ‘But I’m not sure about what any other inspections have happened. That’s the concern. I don’t know when it was last inspected.’ Young is chairman and director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

 

“Young said the landowner is responsible for maintenance and inspection of dams. ‘We also do inspections and will continue to do inspections of reservoirs, whether they’re private or state owned,’ he said. On Thursday, the board gave the state attorney general emergency authority to go onto private land without permission to investigate and inspect earthen dams statewide. The attorney general’s office had already hired a dam expert to look at the failed dam and others on Kauai.” (AP, Tara Godvin. “Hawaii Dam That Burst Was Listed Low-Hazard.” Daily Sitka Sentinel, AK, 3-17-2006, p. 6.)

 

March 18, AP/Song: “Honolulu — Search-and-rescue teams found a third body on the island of Kauai Friday, three days after a privately owned dam burst and released a violent torrent of tree-snapping water and debris. Authorities said a woman’s body was recovered in a stream bed. The body had not yet been identified, but the only woman who remained missing after the disaster was 24-year-old Aurora Fehring. Though state and county teams planned to continue a land search, the Coast Guard said it was suspending an aerial and ocean search. ‘We have exhausted our assets and all our available resources in this search,’ said Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Michael De Nyse….

 

“The state asked the federal government on Friday to declare Kauai and parts of Oahu a disaster, and asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for assistance. ‘In my professional opinion, it is beyond the state’s capability and we need help,’ said Ed Teixeira, state vice director of civil defense. ‘Above all, there’s been an impact on people and that impact is continuous.’

 

“The dead include 22-year-old Christina McNeese, who was pregnant and was to be married Saturday, and Alan Dingwall, 30.

 

“Those who had been searching for the missing have been hampered by the heavy mud, piles of broken trees, rain and the threat of another reservoir breaking….

 

“Also Friday, Attorney General Mark Bennett subpoenaed construction and maintenance records from the two owners of the Kaloko Reservoir as part of an investigation to determine how and why the dam failed. The dam was on the same property that co-owner Jimmy Pflueger cleared without government approval, leading to a 2001 mudslide and $12 million in penalties and required payments. State officials have said they do not believe the work contributed to the dam break. Gov. Linda Lingle said the subpoena did not mean that authorities were seeking to find criminal violations. ‘He has a greater ability to get information quicker than anyone else does because of subpoena powers,’ Lingle said. She added: ‘We are not presuming that there was anything criminal at all’.” (Associated Press/Jaymes Song. “Death toll in Hawaii dam break rises to three.” Daily Times, Farmington, NM, 3-18-2006, A5.)

 

March 14, 2014: “In 2006, exactly eight years ago, the Kaloko dam burst on Kauai, sending a wall of water into Kilauea town. Seven people were killed, including a child and a pregnant woman.

 

“The land owner, Jimmy Pflueger, pled no contest to reckless endangering, but the state was also blamed for the disaster for failing to check the dams on a regular basis.

 

“KHON2 found that safety protocols and inspections have come a long way statewide, but there’s still much to be done to close the loop on repairs and procedures dam owners have to put in place. KHON2 compiled years of dam inspection data to make sure the state has been on-pace with checking out Hawaii’s 140 regulated dams and reservoirs, especially how often they are keeping tabs on the biggest and high-hazard ones. ‘The higher the dam is the more energy when that water comes down, or if there’s more volume of water obviously that has the potential to kill people, too,’ explained Carty Chang, chief engineer of the Dept. of Land and Natural Resources.

 

“After revamping the approach to overseeing owners on dam safety in the wake of Kaloko, the state has gotten to just about every regulated dam and reservoir just about every 2 years. DLNR chairman William Aila says the public is much safer now than eight years ago. ‘We have a baseline, we have regular inspections,’ Aila said. ‘We could always improve upon that with additional funding, but definitely the dams and reservoirs of the state of Hawaii are safer today.’

 

“The state has not done any official enforcement actions in the years reviewed besides some late-fee follow-ups, but officials say they have issued many letters of deficiency. However, none of those letters are easily accessible to the public. When asked if there is a better way to track and share data about deficiencies, Edwin Matsuda, head of the Dam Safety Program, said, ‘We’re looking at ways that we can incorporate it into our database so it can flag up on a schedule.’

 

“Meanwhile officials say the every-two-year cycle will also catch any follow-ups that could fall through the cracks. They recently did return visits to check up on several sites that needed work, and said they’ll press owners who are late with emergency response plans, like what they’d do if their dam breached.

 

“Dam safety officials admit they do not yet have an Emergency Action Plan from every regulated dam and reservoir. ‘There are still a handful that are out,’ Matsuda said. ‘We just sent out some notices last week and we gave them 30 days to come in.’ Three of the state’s five largest dams have Emergency Action Plans that are still due for updating. There are just a handful of inspectors and available spending for their work depends on fees collected from the owners of a shrinking number of regulation-size dams. State taxes used to back the division, but general funds were cut off several years ago in budget tightening. ‘Perhaps the governor will support, as we go forward into better economic times, the request for additional general funds,” Aila said, “because that’s really a way that we can ensure compliance in a much more efficient and much quicker fashion.’

 

“All dams big enough to be regulated will soon have to carry a certificate that most have already applied for that checks out their operational and maintenance manuals, emergency plans and clearance of deficiencies. ‘There is not a deadline per se in statute,’ Matsuda said, ‘but we do want to get them out as soon as we can because that assists our program in doing a better job.’….

“The number of dams and reservoirs is shrinking in part because the regulations, fees and fix-it requirements are mounting costs for the owners, many of whom are shutting them down or dropping the water below regulated levels. ‘Now that we’re requiring annual fees of owners, they’re a little more motivated to take these structures off their books and reduce their liabilities,’ Matsuda said….” (Mangieri, Gina. “How has dam safety changed since Kaloko’s deadly breach?” KHON2, 3-14-2014.)

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Crews find second body, inspect old dams after one fails in Hawaii.” Del Rio News-Herald, TX. 3-16-2006, p. 8A. Accessed 9-7-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=112307616&sterm=kaloko

 

Associated Press/Jaymes Song. “Crews Hunt for Victims of Broken Hawaii Dam.” Daily Sitka Sentinel, AK, 3-15-2006, p. 9. Accessed 9-7-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=101272515&sterm=kaloko

 

Associated Press/Jaymes Song. “Death toll in Hawaii dam break rises to three.” Daily Times, Farmington, NM, 3-18-2006, A5. Accessed 9-7-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=192215272&sterm=kaloko

 

Associated Press, Tara Godvin. “Hawaii Dam That Burst Was Listed Low-Hazard.” Daily Sitka Sentinel, AK, 3-17-2006, p. 6. Accessed 9-7-2015: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=91573530&sterm

 

Finnegan, Tom. “Suits Distribute Blame for Dam.”  Star Bulletin (Honolulu), 8-11-2006.  Accessed at:  http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/08/11/news/story05.html

 

Mangieri, Gina. “How has dam safety changed since Kaloko’s deadly breach?” KHON2, 3-14-2014. Accessed 9-7-2015: http://khon2.com/2014/03/14/how-has-dam-safety-changed-since-kalokos-deadly-breach/

 

United States Department of Homeland Security. Dams Sector: Estimating Loss of Life for Dam Failure Scenarios. Washington, DC: DHS, September 2011, 94 pages. Accessed 12-2-2017 at: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=726315

 

           

 

 

 

[1] Robert Carson Godbey, Special Deputy Attorney General. Report on the Independent Civil Investigation of the March 14, 2006, Breach of Ka Loko Dam, Volume 1, January 2007.

[2] Besides Godbey, cites: Adam Harju, “Man remembers an eerie, rumbling sound,” The Garden Island, 3-15-2006; and Dan Nakaso with Jan TenBruggencate. “2^nd dam failure feared,” HonoluluAdvertiser.com, 3-15-2006.