Two people died of apparent drowning in separate incidents on the Big Island this weekend.
Two people died of apparent drowning in separate incidents on the Big Island this weekend.
The body of a 47-year-old woman who was swept away in flash flooding Saturday night on Kahana Drive in Ahualoa near Honokaa was recovered Sunday, and a man drowned Sunday after encountering trouble swimming at Kehena Beach in lower Puna, according to the Hawaii County Fire Department.
Fire officials say the woman was trying to cross a typically dry river bed that had become swollen by flash flood conditions and was flowing across a driveway. The woman was swept off her feet and disappeared downstream.
Rescue personnel responded shortly after noon Sunday to the report of swimmers in distress and a possible drowning at Kehena.
Bystanders told responders all the swimmers made it ashore except for a man who was last seen face-down and sinking near a rocky point at the south end of the popular Puna beach.
A jet ski unit found the man’s body on the ocean floor about 100 yards offshore in water about 30 feet deep.
Neither victim’s identity has been released.