UPDATE: O‘ahu park, garden, golf course, and zoo impacts due to severe weather

By Nathan Serota
January 30, 2025
City News, DPR News

Division of Urban Forestry crews responding to a downed tree during severe weather.

January 31, 2025: An update to the severe weather impacts on your City and County of Honolulu parks and gardens.

Our Division of Urban Forestry crews are continuing to work to clear downed trees and branches at locations from around O‘ahu. They were joined by other first responders, working throughout the storm, to mitigate the impacts of 61 different fallen tree incidents. That number will continue to rise as the cleanup continues, with priority given to public safety and clearing roadways. A big mahalo to all of our first responders who help to keep us safe, especially yesterday.

The Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve remains closed today, January 31, due to the ocean conditions and fallen trees. The nearby recreation building and gymnasium at Koko Head District Park is closed due to fallen and leaning trees.

Fallen tree at Koko Head District Park on January 30, 2025

Camping remains suspended today for all of our 17 City campgrounds. Due to storm impacts, we will extended campground closures through this current camping period for select campgrounds at:Kalaeloa Beach Park,Kalaniana’ole (Nānākuli) Beach Park, Kea’au Beach Park, Lualualei Beach Park, Mā‘ili Beach Park, Hūnānaniho, and Bellows Field Beach Park.

All five botanical gardens are open today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please exercise caution when enjoying these gardens, and all of our open parks, as the ground is saturated and can be slippery.

Pools will be reopening systematically as staff clean the debris from yesterday. Please call the pools to inquire about their progress on resuming their regular schedules. For instance, the K. Mark Takai Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center, Kailua, and Pearl City pools are open.

The majority of previously closed park facilities have reopened, including the Waipi‘o Soccer Complex and Hans L’Orange Neighborhood Park. However, the ballfields at Patsy T. Mink Central O‘ahu Regional Park remain closed due to being very soggy and saturated.

From the Department of Enterprise Services, the Honolulu Zoo is open today, January 31, and operating as usual.

Play has resumed at five of the City’s six municipal golf courses – the Ala Wai Golf Course is closed at this time because it is one of the customers that has been impacted by a water main break on Kapahulu Avenue near the golf course.

We appreciate the patience and understanding of park users while our staff work to clean these public places, and ensure their safe usage.

January 30, 2025: Severe weather arriving on O‘ahu today is impacting the majority of City park and gardens, resulting in closures and suspension or regularly scheduled activities.

City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) pool managers will close their pools if thunder or lightning is observed, or if heavy rain impacts their visibility.

Numerous park locations have already closed to the public, including the: Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden, Wahiawā Botanical Garden, Koko Crater Botanical Garden, Patsy. T Mink Central O‘ahu Regional Park, and Hans L’Orange Neighborhood Park. While not all parks and gardens are closed, please use extreme caution when outdoors today.

Permitted camping at all of the 17 DPR campgrounds will be suspended for tomorrow, Friday, January 31. All of the campgrounds are regularly closed for camping Wednesdays and Thursdays. DPR will reassess the conditions of these areas to determine whether camping is suspended for the weekend. Please check the camping website for the latest information: camping.honolulu.gov

In addition, the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Enterprise Services announced Thursday that multiple City facilities were being impacted by an ongoing severe weather system.

The Honolulu Zoo in Waikīkī was closed Thursday morning as a result of heavy rains, resulting in ponding and flooded walkways across the facility. The facility is expected to remain closed for the remainder of the day.

As of 11:20 a.m. Thursday, play was suspended until further notice at the City’s six municipal golf courses as a result of heavy rains and strong winds.

The National Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Warning and High Wind Warning for the island of Oʻahu. The City urges all Oʻahu residents to exercise extreme caution when outdoors — floodwaters can rise rapidly, creating dangerous and unstable conditions.

These weather forecasts may change, so please stay informed through the proper channels by: signing up for alerts at hnl.info, getting updated weather forecasts from weather.gov/hfo/, and learning more about preparedness: honolulu.gov/dem

If you need an auxiliary aid/service, other accommodations due to a disability, or an interpreter for a language other than English in reference to this announcement, please contact the Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation at 808-768-3003 on weekdays from 7:45 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. or email parks@honolulu.gov at least three business days before the scheduled event. Without sufficient advanced notice, it may not be possible to fulfill requests.