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Strong winds, high surf keep lifeguards busy

Timothy Hurley

Honolulu’s lifeguards were busy for a second day in a row Sunday as strong winds and high surf battered the south- and east-facing shores of Oahu.

Also for the second day in a row, lifeguards responded to Portlock for an emergency call late in the afternoon, according to Ocean Safety.

Officials said a woman in her 20s was swept off a ledge at “Spitting Caves” at 4:22 p.m. Surfers brought the woman to shore just as lifeguards arrived in a truck at Portlock and via rescue jet ski from the Maunalua Bay boat ramp. Ocean Safety personnel rescued two men in the same spot Saturday.

Lifeguards rescued 54 people and performed 1,766 preventative actions on the South Shore — from the entrance channel of Pearl Harbor around Diamond Head to Wailupe. Lifeguards on the Windward Side, from Wailupe to Kaneohe Bay, rescued five and made 1,285 preventative actions.

On the Leeward Coast, a 23-year-old woman was scraped up by rocks at Mermaid Cave and required Emergency Medical Services assistance, and on the North Shore a 43-year-old woman was cut on the head during a surfing accident at Chuns Reef, officials said.

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