Honolulu, Hawaii: Seven Hurt in Head-On Crash That Closed Kamehameha Highway in Waikane

Seven people were taken to a hospital after a head-on crash on Kamehameha Highway in Waikane on Wednesday afternoon, in a collision that closed the highway in Windward Oahu during rainy weather.

Hawaii News Now reported that the crash happened at about 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28, in the vicinity of Coral Kingdom, according to the Hawaii Department of Transportation. Waikane sits on the Windward side of Oahu, where Kamehameha Highway is the main coastal road linking the communities along the shore.

Three people seriously hurt

Emergency crews treated seven people at the scene. A woman in her 60s, a 54-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman were treated for serious injuries, according to the emergency medical account carried by LocalNow. Three other women and one man were treated for minor injuries. All seven were hospitalized.

The reports did not name any of the people involved, and they did not describe the vehicles beyond the head-on nature of the collision. No cause for the crash had been released in the reports available on Thursday morning, and the reports did not say how long the highway stayed closed after the initial closure was announced.

A crash in the middle of a flood watch

The collision happened on a day when heavy rain was moving across the islands. The National Weather Service office in Honolulu had issued a flood watch for Oahu through the Big Island, in effect from Wednesday afternoon until 5 a.m. on Thursday, warning that heavy rain and isolated thunderstorms could produce flash flooding, close roads and damage property in low lying areas.

The City and County of Honolulu had also opened emergency shelters across Oahu on Tuesday and Wednesday because of the threat of heavy rain and possible flash flooding from the same trough. Hawaii News Now described the crash itself as happening during rainy weather, although officials have not said whether the wet road played any part in the collision.

What is not yet known

Investigators have not released the sequence of the crash, whether speed or alcohol was a factor, or the identities and updated conditions of the seven people taken to a hospital. Drivers on the Windward side rely on Kamehameha Highway for daily trips between Kaneohe and the North Shore, and a closure in Waikane leaves few direct alternatives along the coast.

Anyone with information about a serious traffic collision on Oahu is ordinarily asked to contact the Honolulu Police Department Traffic Division, which investigates major crashes on the island. The department had not issued its own detailed account of the Waikane crash in the reports available when this article was published.