Water main break in Punaluu continues to clog North Shore traffic

Motorists are asked to avoid the Punaluu Beach Park area as Board of Water Supply crews continue to work on a 30-inch water main break, which caused a car to fall in a sinkhole and wrecked havoc on North Shore traffic over the weekend.

Only one town-bound lane is open today and contraflow is in place due to the water main break near 53-316 Kamehameha Highway.

BWS officials advise motorists who must drive near the site to plan for delays and to use extreme caution for the safety of the repair crews.

Residents from Punaluu to Kaaawa have experienced low water pressures or intermittent outages Saturday as BWS worked to refill area reservoirs.

BWS officials said that the broken main on Friday caused severe road damage between Punaluu Valley Road and Green Valley Road in Punaluu, and closed portions of Kamehameha Highway, which didn’t reopen until about 8 a.m. Saturday.

BWS spokesperson Kathleen Pahinui said today that repair work will take a few more days to complete.

Pahinui said the sinkhole was so large that a woman drove her vehicle into it on Friday night. The woman made it out safely.

Pahinui said the fire hydrant incident also is believed to have caused six other small leaks from Kualoa Ranch to Punaluu that BWS crews repaired on Saturday. Those leaks have since been fixed, she said.

“It was a mess,” she said.