Life for homeless folks along the Wai'anae Coast on Wednesday was returning to normal, if there is such a thing, but many beach dwellers still were talking about the surging surf, pounding rain and heavy winds that tore up campsites, tossed about boulders and a few humans and generally wreaked havoc in pockets of the shoreline encampments a day-and-a-half earlier.

Brennen Valancio, 32, was trying to sleep early Tuesday morning when a huge wave crashed next to his tent, lifted his makeshift bed off the ground and scattered some of his belongings. A second wave carted off his surfboard, cooler and other items, some of which he still was searching for Wednesday.

"Things were going right out the door," Valancio said, standing outside his tarp-covered encampment that he moved slightly inland at Ma'ili Beach Park after his harrowing experience Tuesday morning.

By midday Wednesday, signs of Mother Nature's fury still were evident along sections of the Wai'anae shoreline. Rocks were strewn about in some places, collapsed or ripped tents dotted the landscape and sections of the coastline, such as an access road along Lualualei Beach Park in Wai'anae, were torn up from the pounding surf.

'GET UP! GET UP!'

Although the forecast was for improving weather conditions, beach residents said they still worried about more bad weather.

Marian McCollough, 52, was among them.

A homeless resident for four months, McCollough, after watching a steady buildup of crashing surf before retiring to her tent Monday night at Lualualei Beach Park, more commonly known as "Sewers," was awakened by frantic screams around 1 a.m. Tuesday. "The waves! Get up! Get up!" a neighbor shouted.

When McCollough unzipped her tent's entryway to peer out, she saw a huge wave heading toward her. She quickly zipped up the tent as the wave crashed onto the reef just yards from where she and friend Claudia Solmarin, 58, only minutes before were dozing off. Water rushed around their tent, slinging rocks. A watermelon-sized boulder landed just a few feet from where the petrified women huddled.

"I was very, very scared," McCollough said, still amazed by the experience. "The wind and rain and waves were terrible."

The surging surf drenched food and other supplies the two women had in a nearby tent and littered their encampment with debris, which McCollough spent the day Tuesday cleaning up. She was thankful neither of them suffered any injuries and that her tent, anchored to several wooden pallets by metal stakes and twine, wasn't swept away.

McCollough believes her late husband of 30 years, Fred McCollough, who died a year ago, was partly responsible for them staying out of harm's way.

"I think my guardian angel was watching out for us," she said. "He was protecting me just like he did when he was alive."

After the large waves struck, dozens of beach dwellers at Sewers, Ma'ili and elsewhere evacuated their encampments and temporarily moved to higher ground, waiting for the tide to subside. Many stayed up the rest of the night.

Franny Navarro of Wai'anae Community Outreach, a nonprofit group that assists the area's homeless, said scores of beach dwellers have sought help because the bad weather damaged their makeshift quarters or ruined supplies. About 100 packets of sheets, blankets, shampoo, soap and other essentials were distributed Tuesday and another 50 or so were handed out Wednesday, Navarro said.

"I think now people are preparing" in case of more bad weather, she said.

FROM TENT TO SCULPTURE

Pono Bremer, 48, who has been homeless for about a year, took this week's wild weather in stride. He and his girlfriend were asleep in an old blue van, parked just yards from the surging surf at Sewers, when a large wave came crashing down near their vehicle, lifting it slightly. The wind was so strong that it ripped apart their nearby tent, where the couple did their cooking.

Bremer later converted the mangled tent frame into a sculpture marking his campsite. Adorned with an assortment of odds and ends, including an old bike frame, rake, and tattered car seat, the sculpture serves as a testament to a week of wet, blustery weather that he and his neighbors won't soon forget.

Reach Rob Perez at rperez@honoluluadvertiser.com.