HANAPEPE, Kaua'i — This west Kaua'i town was blasted yesterday by high wind that may have been a tornado, while the rest of the Garden Island got a soaking and numerous mudslides, downed trees and road closures from high water.

During the 24-hour period ending at 5 p.m., no measured spot on Kaua'i received fewer than 4 inches of rain and most got 6 or more inches, topping at 14 inches on Mount Wai'ale'ale, one of the wettest spots on Earth.

The National Weather Service's Honolulu forecast office "saw what we identified as a tornadic cell on radar ... coming onshore, somewhere between Hanapepe and Waimea," which led to the tornado warning for Kaua'i from 12:52 until 1:15 p.m., said meteorologist Maureen Ballard.

"When something has that type of circulation, it can cause a great deal of damage in a short period of time," Ballard said. "The incident may be very brief or can last several minutes."

Several people in Hanapepe and nearby Kaumakani said the wind hit before they heard the warning.

"I was wondering, 'Is there going to be another one?' " said Mark Kennett, harvesting supervisor at Gay & Robinson Sugar Co., who lives adjacent to several hundred acres of sugar cane damaged by the high wind.

"We got the alert after the wind had already passed," Kennett said late yesterday. "Why didn't they sound the civil defense sirens?"

Pointing to the uprooted cane, behind his house at dusk, Kennett said the cane is about eight months old and would have been ready for harvest eight months from now.

The company won't know how extensive the damage is until agronomists can get in the field next week, he said.

"I know we're going to lose a significant amount," he said.

Kennett was home when the wind came through, but he couldn't say whether it was a tornado since visibility was no more than a few feet from his kitchen window.

"A lot of people here didn't know about it until after it happened," he said.

Apparently "the (tornadic) cell died very quickly" and the warning was allowed to expire at 1:15 p.m., Ballard said.

Kaua'i Civil Defense director Mark Marshall said powerful winds did move through, but didn't become cyclonic or form tornadoes.

"We did have some reports of downed trees at Hanapepe," Marshall said at 1:23 p.m. on Kaua'i's KQNG 93-FM radio station.

POWERFUL WIND

Hanapepe resident Tom Kaufman was mopping up rainwater in his woodworking shop on Hanapepe Road when he heard "a lot of wind" and tried to shut the shop door.

But the wind was so strong for a couple of minutes that he couldn't shut the door against it, he said.

"About two minutes later, I heard on the radio that a tornado was headed our way," Kaufman said. "That was like five minutes behind."

Up Hanapepe Valley Road, James and Judy Page, who went through a tornado in California in the 1980s, said they believe that's what snapped tree branches in the woods behind their house.

"It took big branches off the trees and blew a couple of screens off," James Page said. "It was a heavy wind at least."

Judy Page said the couple ran from their son's house in front of theirs about 12:30 p.m. when they heard tree limbs "going snap-snap-snap."

"At that point the rain, that had been pouring straight down, was going sideways," she added. "It was raining so hard you couldn't see anything. All our shoes blew off the lanai."

Heavy rain slacked enough to shine an orange and pink sunset on Gay & Robinson worker Louie Matias as he tried to mend a downed power pole before dark.

The National Weather Service flash-flood warning for Kaua'i was extended to 8 last night, with additional rain possible.

MUD IN THE WATER

Shortly before 3 p.m., the Ocean Safety Bureau of the Kaua'i Fire Department closed Kaua'i beaches. Rain runoff can contain pollutants from cesspools, sewage spills and animal waste.

Reddish-brown muddy water extended hundreds of feet offshore along the east and south coasts near river mouths.

Clouds hung low most of the day over Kaua'i's signature Mount Wai'ale'ale, almost obscuring it.

The summit is often lost in the clouds, but more of the mountain is usually visible.

Kaua'i firefighters on the west side had numerous calls for assistance with flooding, downed trees and more, acting district commander Sgt. Bernard Purisima said at 2:45 p.m.

Normally there are four firefighters on duty in the district, but workers were staying longer and coming on-shift early to deal with "all emergencies — helping people from their homes, blocking roads, getting signs up to roads. Directing traffic around landslides," Purisima said. "It's been busy."

Early in the afternoon, the heaviest rains were occurring along the south and southeast coasts, especially over Barking Sands, Kekaha, Waimea, Koloa, Lihu'e, Hanalei and Wainiha, the weather service said.

Waimea town had significant flooding, the weather service said.

The Hanalei Bridge was opened shortly before 7:30 last night, then closed again. Several road closures were still in effect: