A handwritten “SOS” message in the sand helped save two stranded Hawaii visitors as flash floods swept across Oahu, where Coast Guard and Navy crews also rescued five people and a dog from a rooftop.
The rescues unfolded over several hours on March 21 as heavy rain from a second kona low triggered flooding across the island, washing out roads and isolating beachgoers in remote areas, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Oahu as the storm moved through, prompting mandatory evacuations in parts of Waialua and Haleiwa, according to the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management.
The first call came in around 10:25 a.m., when personnel at Coast Guard Sector Honolulu received reports of people stranded in rising water near Waialua. A Navy MH-60 Seahawk helicopter crew from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 37 was dispatched and hoisted five people and a dog from a rooftop, transporting them to Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point in Kapolei.
Hours later, shortly after 4 p.m., a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew spotted a distress signal etched into the sand near Yokohama Bay.
“One of the guys in the back said, ‘Mark, mark, mark the position — there’s an SOS written,’” Coast Guard Lt. Alex Mead told Hawaii News Now. “And he said, ‘I think I see some people waving.’”
The message led rescuers to Colorado visitors Emma Stasko and Logan Bonn, who had become stranded after floodwaters overtook Farrington Highway, the only road in and out of the area, according to the outlet. The pair had arrived at the remote beach earlier that day, expecting to leave before the storm intensified, but their plans unraveled when they lost the key to their rental car. Roadside assistance was unable to reach them as conditions worsened.
“The tow truck wasn’t able to make it out, and so that was about the point that we knew we were going to be stuck,” Bonn told Hawaii News Now, adding that he tried to seek help at a nearby Space Force installation but was turned away.
Nearly a day after getting stranded, the couple wrote “SOS” in large letters into the sand. A helicopter crew performing a storm assessment flight spotted the message from the sky within minutes and landed in a nearby parking lot, where a rescue swimmer checked on the pair before taking them to Barbers Point.
Other Coast Guard crews, including the cutters Oliver Berry, Harriet Lane and Hollyhock, along with Station Honolulu boat teams as well as HC-130 Hercules airplane crews continued to conduct overflights to assess storm damage and identify others who might be stranded.
There were no other confirmed reports of people in the water, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. “Safety of life remains our top priority,” said Cmdr. Jeffrey Padilla, the incident commander for Sector Honolulu.