Dangerously high surf will continue through 6 p.m. Friday and extreme caution is urged. Dangerously large breaking waves of 18 to 25 feet rising to 20 to 30 feet along the north facing shores of Kauai, Niihau, Oahu, Molokai and Maui are expected, per the National Weather Service. Large breaking waves of 12 to 18 feet rising to 15 to 20 feet along the west facing shores of Kauai, Niihau, Oahu and Molokai are also expected.

Wednesday afternoon, Ocean Safety responded to an unresponsive person in the water at Shark's Cove, where waves were estimated at 18 to 20 foot faces. Onshore lifeguards performed cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR); Honolulu EMS continued efforts to revive the patient on shore, however despite the efforts, a male, believed to be in his 20s or 30s, was pronouced dead, according to the Honolulu Ocean Safety Department.

Everyone is cautioned to stay away from the shoreline along the affected coasts. Honolulu Ocean Safety stresses extreme caution along the shorelines of Oahu’s north shore as rising surf is extremely dangerous and life-threatening. Lifeguards warn all those wanting to watch the large surf to stay far away from the shoreline, off all rocky shorelines and that only expert surfers should enter the water. Traffic is also expected to be heavy in both directions between Hale‘iwa and Sunset Beach.  

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, Ocean Safety had performed 8 rescues and an estimated 3,000 preventative actions.

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