BARRY MARKOWITZ / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN Kuuipo Primacio, right, looked back as her friend Ata Tufaga was loaded into the Honolulu Fire Department's Air One rescue basket and returned to Laie Point yesterday.

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High surf pounds isle shores

A fire helicopter saves two teen
girls clinging to rocks off Laie Point

Giant waves pounded the north and west shores of Kauai, Niihau, Oahu and Molokai last night, forcing the closure of Waimea Bay and putting civil defense officials on alert.

The National Weather Service was expecting 35-foot waves to pummel Kauai and Oahu's north shores, with some bigger sets. West-facing shores were expected to receive 16- to 22-footers last night.

The weather service issued a high-surf warning through today for Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Maui's north shore and Molokai's north and west shores.

Oahu Civil Defense shut down Waimea Bay at 7 p.m. yesterday and the access road to Keawaula Bay, commonly known as Yokohama Bay, near Kaena Point at 4 p.m.

At least 20 civil defense volunteers were activated along Oahu's North Shore from Mokuleia to Hauula and the Leeward Coast, spokesman John Cummings III said yesterday.

He said last night that state and city officials were concerned that people might go to the beaches during the high surf and get swept in. He said they expected the high tide around midnight last night.

The surf is expected to subside to about 20 to 25 feet today along the north shores.

Yesterday, two Oahu teenage girls were brought ashore by a fire helicopter after being stranded on rocks off Laie Point at about 12:40 p.m.

Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada said after the two girls jumped into the water, they realized it was too rough and sought refuge on an outcropping of rocks on the Waimanalo side of Laie Point.

Bystanders called the Fire Department, and the girls were airlifted in a helicopter rescue net and brought safely to shore. The teens were not injured, Tejada said.