[HN Gopher] Hawaii's worst flooding in 20 years threatens dam, p...
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Hawaii's worst flooding in 20 years threatens dam, prompts
evacuations
Author : geox
Score : 40 points
Date : 2026-03-21 19:55 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nbcnews.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nbcnews.com)
| user2722 wrote:
| It is truly tragic to see 5,500 people on the North Shore forced
| from their homes as the century-old Wahiawa Dam threatens to
| erase their livelihoods. One can only hope the evacuation orders
| were received in time to save what is most precious. Sentiment
| aside, this is a textbook case of a natural audit. The Wahiawa
| Dam is a 120-year-old stranded asset that should have been
| liquidated decades ago; instead, it was kept on the books as a
| "high hazard" liability while the state and Dole Food Company
| bickered over a $20 million repair bill. Governor Green's $1
| billion damage estimate is simply the market finally collecting
| on 20 years of deferred maintenance and mispriced risk. Those
| living downstream without private insolvency insurance were
| effectively shorting gravity, and the "Kona Low" just called
| their margin. If the dam breaches, it isn't a disaster--it's the
| violent, overdue restructuring of an obsolete irrigation system.
| Nature is the only regulator that doesn't accept a settlement.
| tadfisher wrote:
| I was in Oahu last week in a place that experienced 10 inches of
| rainfall in one day. I had never been in a situation where
| stepping outside felt like turning on a shower.
| huijzer wrote:
| Hawaii again? I hope it's not too bad for the non-zuckerbergs
| phainopepla2 wrote:
| Are there people out there with Zuckerberg derangement
| syndrome, who can't hear about something only distantly related
| without bringing him up?
|
| Kauai, where Zuckerberg's estate is, has not been affected. So
| yes, it's been bad for non-Zuckerbergs
| GorbachevyChase wrote:
| I mean, he did sue a bunch of poor people to remove any
| possibility that they might make ancestral claims on or
| around his super abundance of land. It is in really bad taste
| and a testament to his lack of character.
| longislandguido wrote:
| Is it me or is infrastructure in Hawaii in general really
| terrible and falling apart? Much more so than the mainland.
| semicolon_storm wrote:
| Everything's more costly in Hawaii, including maintaining
| infrastructure
| GunnarHolwerda wrote:
| This is true we work with emergency management in Hawaii.
| Look up the Jones Act. All shipped goods end up having to hit
| the mainland before going to Hawaii which is a major
| contributor to increased costs of goods there.
| vladgur wrote:
| A quick google search on jones act and hawaii reveals this
| page hosted by International Longshore and Warehouse Union
| (ILWU)
|
| https://www.ilwulocal142.org/news-item/jones-act-fact-vs-
| myt...
|
| Few things listed there are clearly false.
|
| "Myth #2: The Jones Act Raises Prices for Hawai'i
| Residents.
|
| However, a comprehensive 2020 study by Reeve & Associates
| and TZ Economics found that this is simply not true.
|
| Their survey compared the prices of 200 consumer goods--
| including groceries, household items, clothing, and
| automobiles--at major retailers like Costco, Home Depot,
| Target, and Walmart in both Honolulu and Los Angeles. The
| results showed that prices in Hawai'i were, on average,
| only 0.5% higher than on the mainland, a negligible
| difference that cannot be attributed to the Jones Act
| alone."
|
| As a frequent visitor to Oahu, i stop by Costco on the way
| from the airport and i can see that most consumables
| including milk and meat is 30-50% more expensive than at
| Northern California Costco. This is representative across
| local supermarkets as well.
|
| So its seems that this union is trying to minimise the
| impact of shipping on costs of everyday goods
|
| Critics dismiss this study as bogus:
|
| https://www.grassrootinstitute.org/2020/07/shipping-
| industry...
|
| "using online prices to compare food prices at Hawaii
| versus Los Angeles stores is problematic. A visit today to
| the Keeaumoku Street Walmart showed an 18-ounce box of
| Cheerios selling for $4.26, before tax, versus $3.64 for
| its listed online price, and a four-pack of 5-ounce cans of
| albacore tuna for $8.43 versus $6.74 online."
|
| That is actually true, Keamoku Walmart does not pricematch
| to their online prices and the only way to get those prices
| is to place an pickup order and wait for several hours to
| pick up at those prices.
| mothballed wrote:
| IlWU are crooks, but I thought jones act said
| intranational trade had to be by us flagged and manned
| ship. Not that foreign trade couldn't unload directly
| there on foreign ship or that it had to go to mainland
| first.
|
| I've never heard of them having to go to the mainland
| before unloading in Hawaii. But if they do unload
| directly in Hawaii maybe they can't unload elsewhere
| without violating jones act so it's not worth the trip
| there instead of going to LA to unload and then a US
| flagged boat has to be used to get it to HI.
| mothballed wrote:
| Land anywhere useful is also extraordinarily expensive and
| developing industry is commonly blocked on the thinnest of
| reasoning. Hawaiians even sabotaged the interisland ferries
| on some trumped up environmental concerns (they complained
| a couple people loaded sands or rocks) seemingly being
| scared shitless of their own people from other islands
| having cheap access (the tourists just fly). You can hardly
| develop any infrastructure that's not tourism or
| residential, and residential is also usually tough outside
| the big island.
|
| Also the various cultures on the islands have a tenuous
| peace as a legacy of plantation owners purposefully
| segregating and pitting the natives, Chinese, Filipinos,
| and whites against each other. This lives on in everyone
| sabotaging the development of any other part of the
| islands.
| GorbachevyChase wrote:
| Well, this is not directly related to department of
| transportation is surprisingly helpful when it comes to
| providing information. Some states have absurd policies like a
| pseudo classification system for public projects like bridges
| as if the construction plans would tell you anything you
| couldn't have seen with your own eyes or the bad guys are
| looking at rebar diagrams to find weak points. It's just silly.
| HDOT on the other hand is quite laid-back. My assumption is
| that it's because everyone is happy just living in a tropical
| paradise.
| raziel2701 wrote:
| Will Zuckerberg swoop in to buy all those properties?
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(page generated 2026-03-21 23:00 UTC)