FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                   March 16, 2006

Release M-32-06

CITY VOLUNTEERS CONTINUE KAUAI SEARCH EFFORT

            Eleven volunteers from the City and County of Honolulu are spending a second day participating in the search for  people missing in Tuesday’s flash flood in Kilauea.

            Four Emergency Services personnel and seven members of the Honolulu Fire Department, along with two state firefighters, are members of the joint state-City Urban Search and Rescue Team that combed the debris yesterday and again today.

            Dr. Libby Char, of the City Emergency Services Department, said the search team was lifted by helicopter to resume working through the debris along Tuesday’s floodpath and Wailapa Stream.  This afternoon, the search moved to debris piles along the shoreline.

            Conditions today were more difficult than yesterday because of day-long heavy rains, Char said.

            The USAR Team located one victim’s body yesterday. Today, they found many personal effects in the debris, said Char.

            She has been a member of the USAR Team since she was a Queen’s Medical Center emergency room physician, before she joined the City last year. The team on Kauai includes three  City paramedics, Fire Battalion Chief Ed Simeona and  six Honolulu firefighters. In addition, the Kauai team includes two state firefighters and some specially trained dogs and their handlers, who are civilian volunteers who train regularly with the team.

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Contact:

            Bill Brennan, 527-6928

            Mark Matsunaga, 527-5767