High surf kills one, leaves some in shelters
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
About 25 North Shore campers and residents spent Saturday night in Red Cross shelters as huge waves crashed against beachfront property, spreading sand and debris across Ke Nui Road.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
No one was injured by the surf on O'ahu, and damage to beachfront property was minor, authorities said.
High surf closed beaches on O'ahu's North Shore today. Lifeguards are cautioning wave watchers, like these at Waimea Beach Park, from standing dangerously close to wave surges. All residents are advised to be on guard.
But as waves up to 25 feet continued to beat against the Islands yesterday, Big Island firefighters reported a 50-year-old man died after being swept out to sea by a strong current. The man had been standing in the surf at Ho'okena Beach in South Kona.
The man was brought to shore by surfers, firefighters said, and bystanders were administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation when firefighters arrived. Paramedics continued to try to get the man breathing again, but to no avail. The man was pronounced dead by about 5 p.m.
John Cummings, a spokesman for O'ahu Civil Defense, said volunteers helping to evacuate people on the North Shore Saturday night thought the waves pounding the shore were 30 feet to 40 feet high.
Police, firefighters and Civil Defense volunteers went door to door or used a public address system to advise families on Ke Nui, Ke Iki and Kewa'ena roads to leave their homes. Campers from Kai Aka Beach Park and Mokule'ia Beach Park were also advised to move to Red Cross shelters.
Civil Defense called for the evacuation after water started to enter homes on Ke Nui Road, Cummings said.
Lifeguard Capt. Bodo Van Der Leeden said North Shore waves were in the 20-foot to 25-foot range yesterday, measuring by the traditional Hawai'i scale, with occasional larger sets. But because the wind was coming in from the wrong direction, even the most daring surfers weren't tempted, he said.
Lifeguards closed the beaches and spent most of the day trying to keep the public out of harm's way.
He advised sightseers to stay on dry sand when viewing the surf.
"If there isn't any dry sand," he said. "Assume there is a reason. Stand in the grass."
Brad Fujii, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Hawai'i, said the surf was likely to decline somewhat overnight last night, but remain high enough for the weather service to issue another high-surf warning late last night and to advise residents to be on guard.
The winds are likely to shift back to the normal trade patterns this afternoon or tonight, he said.
Another swell is due to hit the Islands Thursday or Friday, but may not be as big as those that struck early yesterday morning.
