Heavy rain quenched ‘exceptional’ drought for Molokai’s west end
Leeward areas of Maui County moved out of extreme drought conditions
Catastrophic rainwater ironically helped alleviate devastating drought conditions for portions of Maui County, which has suffered the worst drought in the state in recent months.
Molokai’s west end, the hardest hit by drought, recently improved a couple tiers from the worst category of “exceptional” to “moderate” and “severe” drought levels, according to the United States Drought Monitor.
“You had a couple of events in February that helped things recover a little bit, but it was still pretty dry,” Kevin Kodama, senior service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Honolulu, said Tuesday. “It was only until recently, the last couple weeks, that things started to improve.”
Drought categories range from “abnormally dry” at the lowest end to “moderate,” “severe,” “extreme” and “exceptional.” Following recent rains, leeward areas of Maui, Lanai and Kahoolawe that were in “extreme drought” have improved to “abnormally dry” and “moderate” levels, with portions of Kihei, Maalaea and Central Maui in “severe” conditions.
But how long the relief will last is hard to tell, Kodama cautioned.
“The window is shrinking because the wet season is through the end of April,” he said.
If drought-stricken areas don’t recover soon and the summer months begin, it will just get bad again, Kodama added. That’s why the wet season is so critical for most leeward areas.
Also, drought recovery will take time, especially in West Molokai, the hydrologist said.
Forage on Molokai was in such bad shape, and the deer and other ungulates were so deprived, that as soon as rain came and vegetation sprouted, animals would “wipe everything out.”
“They’re not giving vegetation enough time to come back,” Kodama said. “They’re really hungry.”
Gov. David Ige in January declared Maui County a disaster area as worsening drought conditions impacted ranchers and farmers and led to increasing deaths among axis deer on Molokai. The federal declaration, which helps bolster financial assistance, was approved earlier this month.
Kodama said last year that Maui County ended up with “the worst drought conditions across the state” by the end of September following a drier wet season than other counties. West Maui and Upcountry residents were asked to conserve water over the summer.
The last couple of weeks brought record rainfall to some areas of Maui County, however. Because of rain intensity over a short period of time, major flooding occurred across the state. On Maui, homes were destroyed, roads inundated and beaches and parks shut down.
“You folks have been needing rain, you just got a little too much at one time,” Kodama said. “The ground can
only absorb so much and the rest goes to flooding, which causes damage.”
“The best kind of rainfall is more evenly distributed over multiple days, with follow-up rainfall later on at lower intensity so it can percolate down into the soil,” he added. “That’s not asking too much, is it?”
Kahului Airport logged the second-wettest March on record, Kodama said. So far the gauge has recorded 9.78 inches, “a whopping 8 inches above average for this time.”
The March record of 10.9 inches was set in 1967.
Haiku already broke the March record with 17.79 inches. In 1994, the March record was 17.59, he said.
Other benefits of March rainfall include much-needed surface water for Maui.
Maui County Water Supply Director Jeff Pearson said recent rain has brought surface water treatment plants and reservoirs to full or near-full capacities. He added that streams are flowing, providing for raw water storage.