Hawaii Kona Storm Rips Maui House Off Its Foundation and Into a River (Video)
There’s that iconic scene in The Wizard of Oz. The tornado hits Kansas, and the house flies up into the air, later dropping Dorothy (and Toto) in the land of Oz.
Well, in Hawaii, the recent Kona storm hasn’t been quite that intense – it’s been brutal, catastrophic, and devastating, no question – but a similar situation happened with regards to a home flying off its hinges. In Iao Valley, on West Maui, a home was blown away.
The heavy winds lifted the structure off its foundation, and sent it down into the stream. All they could do was watch helplessly. See the incident below.
“When we lost the mango and monkey pod, we started throwing stuff in bags and packing up,” Todd Bradshaw, the homeowner said. “Half an hour, 45 minutes later, the river had come all the way up to the edge of the deck of the house, the back deck, which was about 60 feet straight down.”
Bradshaw added:
“I just went in and grabbed the last thing inside the garage and about two minutes later, we heard the cracking. I held my phone up and videotaped it and it just went boom, right into the water.”
Elsewhere, across the islands, the storm wreaked havoc – flooding, landslides, torrential downpours, all-out chaos. See a few scenes below.
“Our administration, working with state and emergency management partners, has been closely monitoring this developing storm all week,” said Hawai‘i County Mayor Kimo Alameda. “We expect conditions to worsen beginning Friday through the weekend. To protect public safety, non‑emergency county operations will be closed from Friday at 6:00 a.m. through Saturday. This will give residents time to make preparations before the storm arrives. Please avoid unnecessary travel during severe weather and be prepared for possible flooding and power outages.”
Prayers for Hawaii.