CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
A bodyboarder rode a wave as water shot out of Halona Blow Hole yesterday afternoon. Sandy Beach was open yesterday for experienced surfers and bodyboarders after a second day of dangerously high surf along the east and north shores of all islands.
Massive waves
stage an encoreOfficials expect that high waves
from the unusual swell will
begin to recede today
Dangerously high surf persisted for the second day on the east and north shores of all islands yesterday, but was expected to lose some of its punch today.
Yesterday, Oahu's Hanauma Bay and Makapuu Beach Park were closed for a second day because of high waves and strong currents. Although Sandy Beach was open only for experienced surfers and bodyboarders, lifeguards made 75 to 100 rescues or assists, said Ron Bregman, acting lieutenant in Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services.
All beaches along the east and north shores of Kauai were also closed, with spectacular 15- to 25-foot waves hitting them from the northeast. Police reported continued high surf on Maui and the Big Island.
Residents from Kaaawa to Hauula spent another day cleaning up the mess left behind by the rare northeast storm. Water washed over parts of Kamehameha Highway over Friday night, bringing sand and debris across the road and into their yards.
The highway was closed Friday evening because of high swells, between Kualoa Beach Park and Hauula Homestead Road, and was re-opened at 8:03 a.m. yesterday.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
Sandy Beach lifeguards Kalmalu Soluza and Lamakani Holt kept a watchful eye on surf enthusiasts yesterday. Lifeguards said waves reached about 12 feet in height and there were many rescue-craft assists and broken boards.
Brent Green of Hauula woke yesterday to find a 30-pound boulder, and a 2-inch layer of sand in his carport, washed in over the highway with the swells.
"It was amazing," he said of the high surf. "You could hear the rumble."
In Kaaawa, Julie Chun spent hours yesterday removing small pebbles and trash from her yard that had washed in with the tide. On Thursday night, water from a swell seeped into an underground electrical vault attached to her home, cutting power to about five homes in her cul-de-sac.
She said Hawaiian Electric Co. had to connect makeshift power lines to each home to restore power. A small lane next to her home was flooded with water yesterday, at its height knee-deep, and had traveled more than 75 feet before receding, she said.
The swells and debris "nearly broke my gate" Thursday night, she said, adding that water came within two feet of her front door when she left the gate open Friday night.
A high-surf warning for northern shores was replaced with a high-surf advisory yesterday afternoon, but high-surf warnings remained for east-facing shores, the National Weather Service reported. Waves were forecast at 12- to 18-feet last night and today after slowly lowering yesterday.
The unusual northeast swells were brought on by a low pressure area with strong winds about 550 miles northeast of the Big Island yesterday, said National Weather Service lead forecaster Tim Craig.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM
A bodyboarder waited in the shorebreak at Sandy Beach yesterday. According to the National Weather Service, the low-pressure system is expected to move north with light, variable winds and bringing a change from dry, cool weather to warm and muggy conditions.
The system is expected to move north with light, variable winds and end up northwest of the state Tuesday through Thursday, bringing a change from dry, cool weather to warm and muggy conditions, Craig said.
On Friday, waves as high as 40 feet reported on Maui forced the evacuation of two homes in Paukukalo area and another home in east Maui. And on Kauai, county officials told residents living north of Anahola to evacuate for fear the surf would wash out the only road out.
On the Big Island, some residents of the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision southeast of Hilo reported 50-foot rogue waves. Eight oceanfront homes in the subdivision were flooded or otherwise damaged by the pounding surf.
The ocean broke through the three-foot retaining wall surrounding Tom Carson's property, flinging two-foot boulders onto his porch.
"It was absolutely fantastic," Carson said. "I'd have paid money to do this. A great show."
A few lots down, the new house David Greenlaw built was still unoccupied. During the storm, a huge wave forced open the double doors and flooded the house.
"There were a couple of inches of water in the place," said Greenlaw, "but the real story is the neighbors. In the time it took me to walk around to the front of my house, I saw there were about 10 neighbors headed over with brooms and buckets.
"I don't even know most of these people, but they cleaned it all up and I want to thank them."
Police reported no deaths or serious injuries due to the high surf. All East Hawaii beaches remained closed yesterday, with crews expected to begin cleanup work tomorrow morning. Hilo Bayfront Highway was closed yesterday, but all other roads in Hilo have been reopened.
The high swells over the past few days were unusual not only because they came from the northeast instead of the northwest, but because the time interval between the waves was closer, Craig said.
The period between northwest swells is 17 to 20 seconds because they travel longer distances and the wave length increases, he said. The interval between the northeast waves was only about 14 seconds, he said.
"With this surf, with such a short period, there was no allowance for the water to recede off the beach, just one huge wave every 14 seconds. Boom, boom, boom."
At Sandy Beach Park yesterday, lifeguards said the high surf split dozens of surfers' boards in two.
"I wish I had a back-up board," said Patrick Reagan, of Waikiki, yesterday afternoon while looking down at the three-fourths of a surfboard he had left after a wave broke it in half, leaving him stranded in the waves and in need of assistance from lifeguards.
"It doesn't ever get this big on this side."
Bregman said that Sandy Beach would be open today, but a decision about Makapuu Beach would be made this morning depending on the surf.
Clarity of the water at Hanauma Bay may be a factor in its reopening, which will be determined by the park's manager, Bregman said.
Larry Joiner, owner of Hanauma Bay Snorkeling and Excursions, said he looked at the bay early yesterday and the waves "were really coming in and still quite big. ... Lifeguards were actually surfing."
Big Island correspondent Peter Serafin contributed to this report.
