SURF SWELLS, BUT
WEATHER NOT SO SWELL
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Large winter surf hit Oahu's North Shore yesterday. Windy, rainy, disorganized conditions resulted in very few surfers and beachgoers. One of the few agreeable spots was the Waimea Bay shorebreak. Here, a bodyboarder rides a thick shorebreak barrel.
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Wet weather makes mess of big surf
Heavy rains and wind cause power outages and at least one fatal car crash
The first big swell of the season is expected to produce 30-foot wave faces on the North Shore this morning, but lifeguards are hoping a continuation of yesterday's bad weather will keep surfers out of the water.
"It will be very dangerous," said city Ocean Safety Capt. Bodo Van Der Leeden, whose district covers the North Shore.
Firefighters and lifeguards assisted five surfers yesterday morning near Chun's Reef. "They were all tired and beyond their capability," Van Der Leeden said, adding that the surf conditions were "really ugly."
In addition to surf, rain and high winds swept over Oahu yesterday, causing intermittent power outages, downing a tree on the Pali Highway and slowing traffic islandwide. The rain may also have contributed to two separate traffic accidents that killed one person and sent another woman to the hospital in "extremely critical" condition.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawaii Pacific University student Mariana Kuprijanova, right, watched yesterday as fellow student Yvonne Angeles, left, chased after her slippers as a wave washed across the beach. Large winter surf hit Oahu's North Shore, but poor conditions resulted in very few surfers and beachgoers. Spectators gathered at Waimea Bay to watch the waves.
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A woman in her 20s was hit by a city bus at the intersection of Pacific Heights and Pauoa roads just after 9 last night. An Emergency Medical Services supervisor said it was raining hard when the accident happened.
The woman, a Japanese national, was taken in "extremely critical" condition to the Queen's Medical Center, an EMS official said.
Early yesterday morning a 17-year-old girl died in Waimanalo when a 2000 Dodge sedan traveling east lost control on Kalanianaole Highway and rolled over several times before coming to rest in the westbound lanes.
The accident happened at about 12:10 a.m. on wet roads, police said.
The 17-year-old passenger from Waimanalo was taken to the Queen's Medical Center in serious condition. She later died at the hospital. The driver, a 17-year-old female, also of Waimanalo, was last listed in good condition at Queen's.
Police said speed may also have been a factor in the crash.
The bad weather likely contributed to several minor car accidents yesterday, including a pile-up involving at least five cars on the H-1 Freeway near the Waimalu onramp yesterday afternoon. No serious injuries were reported in that accident.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
With threatening skies and occasional rain showers, umbrellas were necessary equipment for members of the Ipsen family who picked pumpkins in the Aloun Farms patch near Waipahu. Derek, Blake, Jennifer and Melannee Ipsen looked for pumpkins.
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High winds, gusting up to 35 mph, brought down a tree on the Pali Highway about 3:20 p.m. yesterday, closing one Kailua-bound lane and the entrance to the Pali Lookout for about an hour and causing a large traffic back up.
Winds also brought down a power pole near Malaekahana State Park about 4:50 p.m., closing a Kahuku-bound lane of Kamehameha Highway for about three hours and cutting electricity to about 773 customers. Power was restored by 9 p.m.
Scattered outages were also reported in Kailua and Whitmore Village.
About 800 customers were left without power for about an hour in Kailua, while 80 customers in Whitmore Village had no power from about 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
National Weather Service forecaster Robert Ballard said Oahu and Kauai got the brunt of the rain and wind yesterday, but no areas got more than an inch in the 12-hour period ending at 5:45 p.m.
He expects better weather for Oahu and Kauai today as the showers move south over Maui and the Big Island.
The weather service expects its high surf warning for the north-facing shores of all islands to remain in effect through noon today. Forecasters say surf will peak just after daybreak. Oahu Civil Defense volunteers are on-call in case water washes over the roadway.
The swell, generated by a storm off Alaska, wowed spectators on the North Shore yesterday with 10- to 15-foot surf. But gusty winds made the surf choppy. And only a handful of experienced surfers went out, lifeguards said.
Even though yesterday was gray, rainy and windy, hundreds of tourists and local residents headed to the North Shore for a look at the big, white-water waves.
"I'm totally amazed," said Cindy Johnston, of Dallas, as she watched the waves break at Sunset Beach. "This is really awesome, just beautiful." Squinting to see a lone surfer trying to catch a wave, Johnston said, "That guy is either real brave or crazy."
North Shore lifeguards warned sightseers yesterday of the danger of going too close to the shore, but reported no major rescues.
"If people are attempting to go out," Van Der Leeden said, "we're talking them out of it."
