A blustery, wet day across most of the Islands yesterday had the National Weather Service and state Health Department issuing warnings and safety crews picking up after Mother Nature.

Heavy rain and gusting winds led to a blown roof and fallen tree on O'ahu, and rain falling at the rate of an inch per hour at its peak drenched parts of the Big Island and Maui.

The weather service expects the trade winds to diminish over the next few days, reducing the downpours to light showers, but conditions are still right for locally strong gusts.

Another front will move in over the weekend, bringing heavy rain to the southerly slopes on most of the islands, the weather service said.

Yesterday, flood warnings and advisories were issued for Moloka'i, Maui and the Big Island.

In Waimea, rain gauges were recording an inch of rain per hour from the system that was nearly stationary. Maui had similar conditions, with Kula gauges logging more than 1.1 inches per hour.

On Moloka'i, residents awoke to flooded roads yesterday, but flood warnings had ended by mid-morning.

Selected rainfall totals were 2.4 inches for Makakupa'ia, Moloka'i; 1.65 inches for Pukalani, Maui; and 1 inch for Waimea, Hawai'i, for the period ending at 2 p.m. yesterday. Poamoho, near Waialua on O'ahu, had a 12-hour total of 1.5 inches by 2 p.m. yesterday, but a total of 4 inches for the 24-hour period ending at the same hour.

A combination of two factors contributed to the weather pattern, said Vladimir Ryshko, meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

"A dissipating front stalled north of the Islands, and as the trade winds returned, it pushed the remaining moisture from the front over the Islands," Ryshko said. "At the same time, an area of low pressure in the middle atmosphere moved overhead."

Normally after a front dies the trade winds will bring moisture, but yesterday's drenching was caused by the low pressure sitting overhead, he said.

Along with the rain, gusting winds as high as 31 mph at Honolulu International Airport at noon contributed to a torn roof on Young Street.

The fire department applied a temporary fix to a blown roof late yesterday morning on Young Street.

The wind had lifted a corner of the roof, exposing a section of the subsurface that allowed water to enter the unit below, said Capt. Terry Seelig, Honolulu Fire Department spokesman. The crew removed debris that could fall and injure people and put tarpaper down that would stop the leaking until the owner could repair the damage, Seelig said.

The building, between Pensacola and Ke'eaumoku, sustained little damage and there were no injuries, he said.

On Kaua'i the heavy rain caused silt-laden runoff along the shore from Hanalei Bay to Nawiliwili, prompting the state Department of Health to issue a brown water advisory for the north and east side of the island.

"The public is advised to stay out of flood waters and storm water runoff due to possible overflowing cesspools, pesticides, animal fecal matter, dead animals, chemicals and associated flood debris," the advisory said. "If coastal waters are turbid and brown, stay out."

Alec Wong, chief of the DOH Clean Water Branch, said people should stay out of the water for two or three days after the storm.

"It takes about two to three days to settle, and when the sun comes back it kills the germs and bacteria," Wong said.