UPDATE: Haleakalā Summit Remains Closed Due to Ice, Debris, No Power

By Maui Now Staff

UPDATES in italics below:

Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015

Due to heavy ice on Haleakalā’s summit park road, road debris, and lack of power, the Summit District remains closed until further notice.

The Kipahulu District is open but the pools are closed.

All summit phones and Internet are down. Updates will coninue through media outlets via the park’s Facebook page.

“With no power we do not have radio, phone, or other emergency communications,” said Pauline Angelakis of the park service. “If there was an emergency, we would not have any way to contact EMS or other emergency services. We appreciate visitors’ patience at this time.  The park will re-open when it is safe to do so. We will send out a media advisory when this happens.”

Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015

Haleakalā summit will remain closed until further notice. This includes sunrise on Sunday.

Kipahulu District is open but there are many  downed trees and rocks on Hāna Highway. The pools are closed due to high water.

The Haleakalā National Park summit closed due to downed trees and landslide before park entrance. There is no power at the summit. County crews are cleaning debris from the roads.

Snow had also been reported at the summit.

But park officials report that it is actually ice and frost, which can look like snow from a distance.

Frost is moisture from humid air that settles on the ground or on plants and freezes into ice.

Due to heavy rain and low temperatures the rain that fell overnight also froze into ice, park officials said.

The park summit is still closed due to downed trees outside park entrance.

The park is closed until further notice.