If all goes well, a Big Island woman trapped amid the fighting in Lebanon will be in Cyprus sometime today, finally safe from the Israeli warplanes that have been bombing the country's roads and bridges since last week.

"I'm so scared," said Sarah Ahmadia, a 27-year-old biology teacher at Kamehameha Schools who was visiting family. "I just want to go home."

Ahmadia is one of an estimated 25,000 U.S. citizens stranded in Lebanon since the fighting began Wednesday. She has been staying at her aunt's house in a tiny mountain town east of Beirut.

Ahmadia is still unsure of how she will get to Beirut. The roads are so dangerous that her mother, Phyllis Ahmadia, hopes the United States will send an escort or a helicopter, but no plans were definite yesterday. Near the end of yesterday morning's interview with The Advertiser, Ahmadia, choked with emotion, said the experience has been chilling and asked readers to pray for a safe evacuation.

"There are so many civilians getting killed," she said. "I've seen it. The Lebanese citizens have nothing to do with it. I can't believe this is happening."

All of her evacuation information has been given to her by her family, which has been dealing with U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka's office. She said she has had trouble contacting the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon, and isn't sure if she will be evacuated by plane, helicopter, boat or military personnel. Her father told her to pack no more than 30 pounds of luggage and leave the rest behind.

"We've received details from Senator Akaka's office," said her father, Jamil Ahmadia, in a telephone interview from the Big Island. "They gave us instructions on the evacuation."

Sarah Ahmadia said her one source of information has been her cell phone, which has remained in service and allowed her to talk to and exchange text messages with her family and friends. She's also getting news from CNN, which interviewed her twice yesterday.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that a cruise ship, the Orient Queen, escorted by a U.S. destroyer, was evacuating Americans, joining U.S. military helicopters that have ferried about a score of U.S. citizens to a British base on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

Ahmadia said her scariest encounter came Friday when Israeli warplanes bombed and destroyed a road some 500 yards from the house she was staying in before making it to the mountains. Ahmadia, her aunt from the Mainland and her 12-year-old nephew survived by taking shelter in the basement. The road and bridge bombings, according to reports, are Israeli attempts to restrict Hezbollah's movements.

"There was no warning of a plane," Ahmadia said. "Everything exploded around us."

At the time of Israel's first strikes on Lebanon, Ahmadia, on a 21-day trip to visit family, was at a beach south of Beirut. She said she saw a fighter jet fly overhead, followed by a thundering in the distance. At that point she wasn't worried, largely because attacks on south Lebanon are rather common.

The next morning she learned that Israelis had bombed the airport and the Syrian borders, and that getting home was going to be difficult.

"This place went from peace to chaos," she said.

Reach Brittany Yap at byap@honoluluadvertiser.com.