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Hawaiian Dam Breaks, Floods Island

An 1890s-era plantation dam failed in the hills above northern Kauai, Hawaii, sending water and mud through two homes and wiping out the only highway. Searchers found one person dead and are looking for at least seven others, some of them children who hadn`t been seen since the incident. The water has cut off access to and from thousands of rural houses and luxury condominiums along Kauai`s north shore.

Continuing rain is hampering the search and road-clearing efforts, and officials were worried other old earthen dams in the area may be weakened by days of heavy rain as well. The 40-foot-high Kaloko Reservoir dam captured runoff from small streams. Authorities estimate 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.

According to Edwin Matsuda, an engineer who heads the state`s safety programs, nearly all of Hawaii`s dams were built early in the past century before federal standards existed or before the state`s program for assessing dam and levee safety. Authorities feared Morita Reservoir`s dam, located downstream from Kaloko, might also fail.