Maui rescue crews fail to find missing tourists

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

KIPAHULU, Maui — It's a popular tourist destination with a reputation as an aquatic playground, a stunning necklace of freshwater pools and falls descending from mountain to sea.

Haleakala park rangers Pat Peralez, left, and Ron Martin yesterday searched the 'Ohe'o pools for Kevin Brown and daughter, Elizabeth. Timothy Hurley ª The Honolulu Advertiser

The fierce power of its floodwaters was seen at 4:30 p.m. Thursday when a 39-year-old Louisville, Ky., schoolteacher and his 8-year-old daughter were swept over 184-foot Makahiku Falls as the man's wife and son looked on.

No one has ever survived the plunge over that waterfall, officials said.

The search again proved fruitless yesterday as the stream level remained high, the current strong and water filled with debris and mud. About 20 park rangers, and Maui fire and police department crews made at least three sweeps of the 'Ohe'o stream, ocean and shoreline.

The Fire Department's rescue dive team was scheduled to be flown in at first light this morning to search the deepest pools between Makahiku Falls and the ocean, officials said.

National Park ranger Sharon Ringsven said the family of four was hiking alongside the stream on the Pipiwai Trail one-half mile up when Kevin Brown and his daughter, Elizabeth, decided to cross the stream. The girl slipped and the father attempted to help her stand when the family heard a loud noise, looked up and saw a 6-foot wall of water.

Holly Brown, an obstetrician, and son Clayton, 11, were above the floodwaters. They climbed the steep slope on the north side of the stream and scrambled over a ridge, where they found the Kapahu Farm, a Native Hawaiian demonstration project, and a volunteer worker, who drove them to the Kipahulu Visitor Center and reported the incident at 5 p.m. Thursday.

At the time, light rain was falling at the visitor center, and the National Weather Service had posted a flash-flood warning at 4:25 p.m.

Park rangers searched along the stream and ocean with support from the Fire Department's rescue helicopter until the effort was called off due to heavy rains and darkness.

The National Weather Service reported a 24-hour rain total of nearly 1 inch at 'Ohe'o and more than 3 inches at nearby Hana. Ranger Eric Anderson said the rain gauge at the visitor center indicated seven-tenths of an inch, but obviously much more rain fell in the mountains above.

The Browns, who were on a spring-break vacation, were accompanied on the trip by Kevin Brown's parents, also from Kentucky. They received counseling from Police Department chaplains before returning to accommodations on the other side of the island yesterday afternoon.

Kevin Brown was a chemistry teacher at Eastern High School in Louisville, where he had taught for six years. Principal James Sexton said he was popular with his students and was notorious for setting off the smoke alarms with his lab experiments.

"He taught a class you couldn't doze off in," Sexton said.

National park employees kept visitors out of the pools yesterday because of strong currents and muddy water, the usual procedure following a flash flood.

Most visitors to the park were unaware of Thursday's tragedy — or the possible dangers that can occur there. Few knew that 'Ohe'o has experienced an average of a couple of deaths each year for the past several years, rangers said.

"Most people are on vacation and they don't realize the power of Mother Nature out here," said ranger Ida Hanohano. "They don't realize how forceful she is at times."

Stephanie and Alan Soicher of Washington state were disappointed to be turned away from the pools. They had brought their 6-month-old son, Isaiah, to Kipahulu, hoping to put him in the water for a refreshing swim.

"There's always a risk of something, but I really wouldn't have thought about the possibility of a flash flood," Stephanie Soicher said.

Walter Pu, a visitor center employee who was born and raised in Hana, said visitors need to be aware of the color of the clouds in the mountains. Black ones indicate the valleys are filling up. And it's time to seek higher ground when you hear a rumbling like thunder, he said.

"It's a matter of respecting Mother Nature," he said.

Joe Gerth of Louisville Courier-Journal contributed to this report.