Hanalei, Hawaii, set a national rainfall record for the most rain in one day from April 14 to 15, according to preliminary National Weather Service data.
The small Hawaiian town on the island of Kauai measured 49.69 inches of rain on that day, according to a rain gauge in Waipa, The Associated Press reported. The total has not yet been officially certified, but if it becomes official it would break the current record of 43 inches in Alvin, Texas, set on July 25-26 in 1979 during Tropical Storm Claudette.
The gauge is one mile west of Hanalei’s north shore and is operated by a nonprofit organization, the Waipa Foundation, which uses it for watershed modeling, according to The Washington Post.
The National Weather Service said the National Climate Extremes Committee needs to review the data to determine whether it is a new record.
The rain caused widespread flooding and triggered mudslides, causing damage and cutting off several communities from the rest of Kauai. Hawaii lawmakers have set aside $100 million for cleanup costs.
“From all of what I’ve seen this has been the worst flood event I’ve ever seen my 49 years here on Hanalei,” Alex Diego told local newspaper The Garden Island. “The house got water in it for the first time ever.”
An upper-level low to the west of Kauai drew enhanced moisture from the lower levels of the atmosphere and caused “intense anchored thunderstorms over the mountains of interior Kauai,” National Weather Service in Hawaii meteorologist Robert Ballard said, the Post reported.
The possible record rainfall was not associated with a tropical cyclone or hurricane, which is unusual.
The world record for rainfall is 71.85 inches over the island of La Reunion from Tropical Storm Denise over the Indian Ocean in 1966.
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