Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Sugar and pineapple acreage on Oʻahu's North Shore was sold off over the years, divided into hundreds of smaller plots for farming and housing.
After March's storms, everyone is pointing fingers.
For years the region’s waterways have been neglected. Waialua farmers and residents say that while last weekend’s historic rainfall was not avoidable, the extent of the damage was.
They blame the culverts, ditches, bridges and overgrowth that became dams for the detritus carried downhill by the stormwater, which together blocked some key drainage systems.
Many don’t know who’s at fault. They say government departments refer them to other county and state agencies – what some describe as a goose chase.
As tempers rise amid the wreckage, North Shore residents are demanding answers from large uphill landowners, government officials and Dole, which has sold off thousands of acres in recent decades.
Read the story: civilbeat.org/2026/03/neglected-north-shore-plantation-waterways-fueled-damaging-floods
Satellite image: @vantortech
Sugar and pineapple acreage on Oʻahu's North Shore was sold off over the years, divided into hundreds of smaller plots for farming and housing.
After March's storms, everyone is pointing fingers.
For years the region’s waterways have been neglected. Waialua farmers and residents say that while last weekend’s historic rainfall was not avoidable, the extent of the damage was.
They blame the culverts, ditches, bridges and overgrowth that became dams for the detritus carried downhill by the stormwater, which together blocked some key drainage systems.
Many don’t know who’s at fault. They say government departments refer them to other county and state agencies – what some describe as a goose chase.
As tempers rise amid the wreckage, North Shore residents are demanding answers from large uphill landowners, government officials and Dole, which has sold off thousands of acres in recent decades.
Read the story: civilbeat.org/2026/03/neglected-north-shore-plantation-waterways-fueled-damaging-floods
Satellite image: @vantortech
