Hawaiʻi · Community Outreach

Waialua North Shore

Serving our backyard — one relationship at a time.

About This Mission

What We’re Doing on the North Shore

[ Content coming soon — describe the North Shore cleanup and outreach work here. ]

Cleanup and Restore

Waialua Beach Rd and Mountain — Photo by Darren Lawrence on Unsplash

Waialua sits at the foot of Oahu’s Ko’olau Mountains, where the Anahulu River flows gently through farmlands and palm groves toward the sea. It is a place where generations have put down roots — shaped by the land, the water, and a quiet, enduring sense of community.

The Devastation

Crushed Car impacted by river — Crushed car settled near the main street in Haleiwa

Power of Raging Water

When I saw this, I mistook it as a golf cart. This is an actual sedan. The bumper is ripped off and the car is completely crushed.

Brown mud and silt covering neighborhood street and yards in Waialua — This once clean and green neighborhood is turned brown from the mud and silt of the river

Haona St, Waialua

Comparing this image to the street view in Google or Apple Maps shows a wild difference and what rushing water carries with it.

Silt and Mud under house on stilts — Well over half a foot of silt and mud is what remained from the river

Cleanup

It was powerful to see the amount of mud and silt left behind, but equally powerful to see the island community support.

The Story

The North Shore of Oahu Hawaii was struck with two weekends of what is called Kona Low storms. The Haleiwa and Waialua areas typically has more rain compared to the west or southwest side of Oahu. However, these two weekends of storms saturated the ground and raised the Anahula River beyond its capacity. Homes were severely flooded and in a few cases were even washed away.

During the first weekend, it seemed many were able to make it through and survive the storm. The looming second storm for the following weekend seemed less impactful in the forecast. However, in reality, was more devastating with it being distinctly called out as the worst in 20 years. During both weekends evacuation orders were sent out because of the threat of the dam breaking.

Many organizations immediately responded and continue to do so. Relief efforts and cleanup began immediately. With the first weekend’s storms, there was already many efforts underway for cleanup. With the second, the river flooding and impact to houses, vehicles and further displacement of families caused so much more disruption. Many felt it across the whole island as affected families and traffic moved south.

The week following the last storm presented incredible and typical Hawaii weather. People poured out from all over the island to help and support. On Thursday, there was a local holiday which had schools out. I was humbled by the amount of people who came together. Companies with employees impacted were focused on supporting their people and those around them. College organizations and teams with friends and teammates affected also came out in support. Even the Pearl harbor commander gave the day off for non-mission essential personnel to go work. The National Guard worked alongside everyone else as well.