When the Waimea river is full to bursting, it needs a bit of help. Photos: YouTube//Screenshot
When it rains in Hawaii, it pours. It’s a wonderful rain, too; warm comfortable instead of freezing and pelting. Up in the mountains where the clouds collect, it rains a little more, and as you know, all rivers lead the to sea. One such river is the Waimea, which leads to Waimea Bay. And when the Waimea River is full to bursting, it means something fun can happen: the Waimea River wave.
Jamie O’Brien knows that particular weird wave well. It often requires a helping hand holding a shovel to get things moving, and this time around, publicly employed workers did the brunt of the dirty work. Jamie is often the one holding the shovel, but this time he didn’t have to get quite as sweaty.
“The water can’t go back up into the mountains,” Jamie said. “It’s got to go into the ocean… right here we got the State. They’re helping dig the river because it’s flooding in the back. Why do I do it? To save my friend Sean’s house from flooding in the back of the valley. This body of water has to be released into the ocean no matter what.”
Add that to the fact digging the river out also creates a pretty incredible wave, and Jamie is stoked.
