Fears rise over Hawaii's other dams

Two dead, seven missing after dam, built in 1890, caved in

• Gallery: Devastation on Garden Isle

• Interactive: Dam safety concerns

• Map: Dam collapse

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(CNN) -- As crews look for seven people missing after the dam collapse in Kilauea, Hawaii, fears are rising that other dams throughout the state are also vulnerable.

Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, director of state civil defense, told The Honolulu Advertiser another dam downstream from the one that broke Tuesday "could go at any time," raising new fears for dazed residents.

Two people have been found dead since Tuesday, when the earthen dam on Kilauea Stream spilled nearly 300 million gallons of water, smashing down trees and sweeping away houses.

Among the reported missing is a couple who were to be married Saturday, The Associated Press reports. (Watch the path of destruction left behind -- 2:16)

"Sounded like a 747 jet crashing here in the valley, all the trees popping and snapping and everything," resident John Hawthorne told the AP. "It was just a horrendous sound, and it never quit." (Watch to see what was wiped out -- 2:18)

"I'm very concerned," said state Sen. Gary Hooser. "We have about 60 dams like this and many more throughout the state, and they are old. The one that burst that caused this damage was built in 1890."

"Some of the dams were full and water-logged," he told CNN's "American Morning." "We're having inspectors go up and take a close look at them to make sure that they are not also at risk of causing more damage."

Nearly all of Hawaii's dams were built early in the past century before federal or state standards existed, The AP quoted Edwin Matsuda, an engineer who heads the state's dam safety programs, as saying. Many date to the 1890s, when sugar plantations dotted the islands. Others are privately-owned earthen dams, like the dam that burst.

In October, the American Society of Civil Engineers, which monitors 130 dams in Hawaii, said at least 22 dams had deficiencies that raised safety concerns.

Weeks of heavy rain on the island preceded the Kilauea dam collapse, and in the past two days, 2 to 8 inches of rain fell with as much as 17 inches in higher elevations. A flash flood watch is in effect through Friday for all the main Hawaiian islands. Kauai, roughly 100 miles west of Oahu, is the northernmost of the isles.

Search for missing

The U.S. Coast Guard is using helicopters, boats and airplanes to search for the missing, focusing on the area around Kilauea Bay on the northern side of the island.

"There are seven people missing, young and old, men and women, and two bodies have been found," Hooser said. "It is a very sad time here for our people in Kauai. We're small community. We're a family. It affects the community on the North Shore."

The Coast Guard said one body was discovered in a reservoir. Another was found in a stream bed.

Marie Atkinson, whose house sits near a stream bank in the valley, told The Advertiser, "I thought ... a tidal wave is coming over the trees."

CNN's Jacqui Jeras contributed to this report.