Couple recounts being stranded on beach for 24 hours during catastrophic Hawaii flooding
A couple's spring break trip to Hawaii took a rough turn when they lost the key to their rental car while on a beach on Oahu and ended up stranded during disastrous flooding.
OAHU, Hawaii – A couple's spring break trip to Hawaii took a rough turn when they lost the key to their rental car while on a beach on Oahu and ended up stranded during disastrous flooding.
Emma Stasko and Logan Bonn went to Hawaii for their spring break in late March. "It was just supposed to be a simple vacation," Bonn said.
They were staying in Honolulu, and Bonn said they wanted to see some beaches on the west side of Oahu, so on March 19 they headed to Yokohoma Bay and arrived at about 2 p.m.
Around 5 p.m. that evening, Bonn and Stasko got back into their car and drove to another beach to watch the sunset.
"Once we got to the other beach and stopped the car, it said ‘Key not detected,’" Bonn said.
Realizing they must've left the key at Yokohama Bay, they got into the car and drove back to search for it.
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They looked for the key for over an hour at Yokohoma Bay and couldn't find it, and the car wouldn't shift back into drive, so they were stuck.
Stasko said it was raining heavily, but luckily the car was still turning on, so they had shelter and warmth.
She said they reached out to the car rental company and police.
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The tow truck called by the rental company kept getting delayed because of other calls due to the rain and flooding.
"We were like, ‘OK, we’ll just wait it out,'" Stasko said. "We still had a lot of faith."
At 1 a.m. on Friday, the tow truck was finally dispatched, but the roads were closed and blocked due to flooding, so it couldn't get to the couple.
They knew they'd be spending the night in the car and the tow truck would try again in daylight.
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"The rain just kept going, and the roads kept getting worse," Stasko said.
When the sun came up, the tow truck was still unable to get to them. Stasko said they had some food and water, so they weren't extremely worried, and were still in touch with police.
They had seen helicopters flying around throughout the day, and tried waving them down, but knew other people's needs were bigger than theirs at that moment, so they could wait.
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Bonn said they had seen a car drive up the road toward the mountain, and he decided to hike up to see if he could find the car and pool resources in case they were all stuck.
Stasko has an MCL knee injury and was unable to go with him and walk long distances.
Bonn said the road dead-ended at a military base, where he was greeted and politely told he couldn't be there, and they couldn't help.
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He said by the time he got back to Stasko, it was 2 or 3 p.m., they were almost out of food and water, and their phones were nearly dead.
"It was at that point we realized we might really need some help soon, or things might go badly," he said.
Stasko said she had seen in movies people writing SOS and getting help, so she decided to try it.
"Five minutes after I wrote that, the Coast Guard helicopter flew over us," she said.
At around 4 p.m., Stasko and Bonn said the Coast Guard helicopter circled back, landing in the parking lot near their car to pick them up.
They were flown back to Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point on Oahu, given food and water and received a medical check.
"They were great. They were really helpful and supportive," Bonn said. "We really can't thank Coast Guard enough."
In total, Bonn and Stasko were stuck for just over 24 hours.
Thankfully, the flooding wasn't impacting the area around their hotel, but they saw the extensive damage ongoing around the North Shore of Oahu.
"It was just horrible for all the locals," Stasko said.
Stasko and Bonn stayed in Hawaii for a few more days before heading back to Colorado.
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