LIHUE, Kauai (AP) — The owner of a company that provides guided kayaking trips says one passenger on a tour along Kauai’s Wailua River died after being swept away in the water while trying to cross a stream on foot.
LIHUE, Kauai (AP) — The owner of a company that provides guided kayaking trips says one passenger on a tour along Kauai’s Wailua River died after being swept away in the water while trying to cross a stream on foot.
Peter Fisher with Kayak Wailua says the group of 10 passengers and one tour guide had been hiking back from Uluwehi Falls on Saturday when the incident happened. He said the group had been trying to cross a stream to get back to their kayaks when Aimee Abrahim was swept away by flash flooding.
“In seconds, it went from knee-deep to over their heads,” Fisher told the Garden Island (https://bit.ly/2gRTjzZ). “It was a blink of an eye.”
Emergency crews had responded to the scene and the other passengers were airlifted to safety.
Search crews began looking for Abrahim, of El Cajon, California, but her body wasn’t discovered until the following day.
“We were hoping it was a mistake and she spent the night somewhere,” Fisher said.
The National Weather Service had issued a flash flood warning for Kauai about three hours after the start of the tour. Fisher said his company monitors weather conditions, and the tour guide had cut the trip short and was leading the group back to the marina when Abrahim went into the water.
“We got little kids and seniors. We’re always keeping an eye on it,” Fisher said. “When we hear rumblings of thunder, we turn around. When we get a flood warning, we turn around. If things deteriorate, we turn around.”
Fisher said Kayak Wailuka has never had a death during its 20 years of operation. He called what happened to Abrahim a “freak situation.”
“Had they gotten to the crossing five minutes before or five minutes later, they would have been fine,” Fisher said. “They just happened to be there at the worst possible time.”