HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Businesses in Hilo are now beginning the cleanup process after Friday’s rain battered Hawaii Island.

It was 90 minutes of downpour in Hilo Friday afternoon

The store Simply Sisters, located on Kamehameha Avenue, watched as water seeped into the store.

“It started flooding throughout all of downtown and throughout all the shops, so our shop actually got flooded, and so it was just me and three other girls at the time, so we had to move everything out of the window because it started to leak and we had to try and clean up the water and stop the water from coming in,” Makanoe Lagua of Simply Sisters said.

With no sandbags on hand, they had to improvise.

“We used bubble wrap until the sandbags could come later, actually, but we did the best that we could,” Makanoe Lagua said.

First Alert Weather Day: Weather alerts issued as heavy rains persist

“When the county or the mayor says be prepared, we really do need to be prepared, and this is a learning experience for us as well about having maybe our own sandbags and being more mindful,” Manager of Simply Sisters Brenda Kenui said.

“It happened really quick because I just got off the phone with her and was like, we’re gonna close up, and I said, OK, just close up, and next thing you know, I’m getting this video. I’m like, oh my gosh, I gotta get down there.”

Because of their quick thinking, none of the merchandise was damaged, and they were still able to hold their Mother’s Day sale Saturday morning.

“We also have some hula and entertainment going on as part of our Mother’s Day weekend, so we have a lot going on, a lot of specials, 30% of the bags, buy one get one half BOGO sale,” Brenda Kenui said.

A few stores down Bayfront, a longtime surf shop owner Stan Lawrence of Orchid Land Surf Shop says his experience from past storms came in handy Friday.

“I’ve been through this before: the flood of 2000. Yesterday’s storm was like a two-hour storm; the flood of 2000 was a 12-hour storm, and it was thunder and lightning all night. I happened to be down here, and I was picking all of my low stuff near the floor; I had mountains of merchandise stacked up,” Stan Lawrence said.

Meanwhile, The Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency says cleanup and damage assessment began today.

“We know some of the businesses or quite a bit of the businesses in Hilo probably had water damage from the eyewitness accounts that we had as far as what was happening down there; we know water got into a bunch of businesses, and then yesterday afternoon, we were taking quite a bit bunch of calls for people asking for sandbags so we’ll follow up with those people to see what kind of damage they had,” Talmadge Magno an Administrator of Hawaii County Civil Defence Agency said.

To report damage, fill out this assessment form on the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency website or call (808) 935-0031.

Copyright 2024 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

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Quality starts continue to provide the Hawaii baseball team with its longest stretch of quality play in some time.

The Rainbow Warriors attained their NCAA-leading 10^th straight win with an 8-2 victory over UC Riverside at Les Murakami Stadium on Friday night, thanks in large part to Randy Abshier’s second straight scoreless start.

A night after reaching the 30-win plateau for the first time since 2012, UH (31-15, 14-9 Big West) achieved a double-digit win streak for only the second time since 2000. The Rainbow Warriors claimed their fourth straight series since getting swept at conference leader UC Santa Barbara in mid-April.

Morale is high, though a postseason berth is still unlikely with seven games remaining in the regular season and no winning teams left to face to boost UH’s resume.

“It happens when you’re on this streak. The vibe in the dugout is awesome,” coach Rich Hill told the Spectrum Sports crew postgame. “People are comfortable with their roles. And we have a good time, anyway. I just believe in that. Baseball’s supposed to be fun. We have a real good synergy going right now.”

Abshier (4-4) went 6 1/3 innings with just four hits and no walks allowed while striking out five. The left-hander from San Diego has 13 1/3 straight scoreless innings going back to last weekend’s start against Cal State Northridge.

“He’s great. This time of the season that slider is really working for him,” Hill said. “He has a lot of confidence in that changeup. Playing with that 90 mph fastball, it’s tough on opposing hitters.”

When UCR got consecutive one-out singles on Abshier in the seventh, Itsuki Takemoto came out of the bullpen and elicited a strikeout and a lineout.

UH took a shutout into the ninth inning but the Highlanders (15-30, 5-18) got on the board against Takemoto with two walks and a double.

Dallas Duarte got a night off from catching as he swapped roles with usual designated hitter Austin Machado, who went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and drove in three runs.

Kyson Donahue reached the 100-RBI mark for his UH career with a single to left in the sixth. Jordan Donahue and Elijah Ickes registered multi-hit games – for Ickes it was his fourth straight.

Center fielder Matthew Miura made a highlight diving grab of Cole Koniarsky as the first out in the top of the ninth, and Jared Quandt made a similar play to Rudy Rodriguez IV in right to end the game.

The teams have the day off Saturday for UH Manoa graduation and are scheduled to finish the series at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.