Tsunami Warning!

While I was preparing an email to share information about our Hālawa Camp hike on Sunday with others who might have additional information for us, my phone went off; there was a Tsunami Watch issued at 2:26 pm. There had been an 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Kamchatka about an hour earlier & experts were evaluating whether a tsunami would be generated & whether an evacuation would be necessary. (It was eventually upgraded to 8.8.)

Title says "Warning", but color code & bulletin say "Watch".

About 20 minutes later at 2:43, a Tsunami Warning was issued with a tsunami ETA of 7:17 pm. I received alerts to my phone from both the State & the County.

This is 1st alert that came to my phone.

This one arrived a minute later.

At 2:58 Dane called & asked me to go to Lapakahi State Historical Park & clear the tourists out & lock the gate; they were all busy at the Parks' maintenance yard moving vehicles & heavy equipment out of the inundation zone. He was unsure if the security firm would send someone. I put on my State Parks shirt & ran down to the park; it was about 3:30 when I got there. I found a car there; it took me about 10 minutes to locate the couple. I told them why the park was closing & they quickly agreed to leave. As we were walking back to the parking lot, Nicole from API Security came down & met us. Though she was in her marked work truck, she did not have her work shirt on & mentioned that she heard about the tsunami from her uncle who was calling from the continent! I think she came down on her own to make sure there was no one there at the park. Hūlō for Nicole!

At 3:03, while I was on my way to Lapakahi, Skyler the Hawai'i Island Medical Reserve Corps Coordinator, sent out both a text & an e-mail. MRC was on standby to assist with the evacuation centers. 

At 4:16 the County Civil Defense alert popped up on my phone. The Hisaoka Gym listed in the Public Evacuation Shelters would be the one I would volunteer for if MRC is requested to help at the shelters.

About 5:15, the 1st warning sirens began to go off; the alerts that arrived at my phone also had an audible, very annoying sound even though I have my phone set to "silent". The Tsunami Warning was also updated. It was now expected to arrive a little earlier on Kauaʻi, at 7:10 pm. People were asked to evacuate the inundation zone by 6:15.

If you don't reply "Yes", they call you. If no response, they email you.

 

In the meanwhile, around 5:30, I opened up the Hawaii News Now live feed to see what they had to say. It was interesting to see the amount of energy that was released by the earthquake; way more than most anything humans can come up with. I also found it interesting that it was the Hawaiʻi County mayor's interview that aired along with interviews with Governor Green & City & County of Honolulu Mayor Blangiardi. Maybe it's because Hawaiʻi Island has the possibility of having the most damage? Honolulu experienced a lot of traffic issues due to the number of people living in the tsunami inundation zones.

News anchors Mark Carpenter & Stephanie Lum talk about the tsunami.

Mayor Alameda at Hawaiʻi County Emergency Operations Center; staff being briefed in background.

Honolulu traffic was a big mess!

During a tsunami boats are safer out in deep water offshore than in harbor.

 

Around 6:10 another siren went off. It was now 1 hour before the tsunami was anticipated to arrive.

HIEMA is state Emergency Management Agency.

About 6:15, the tsunami passed through Midway Atoll. It was reported to have an amplitude of 3'; the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center keeps track of the wave heights as the tsunami moves past monitoring buoys. Hopefully, cuts made at the Federal level did not cause lapses in data transmission to all places that needed the information. HNN also showed a graphic comparing different magnitudes of earthquakes & how frequently they are expected to occur worldwide. There was also another Civil Defense alert a few minutes later.

 

At 6:40 the final siren was sounded; the 1st wave was anticipated to hit Kauaʻi in 30 minutes. One of the most important pieces of information given out during the live press conference was to wait until the "all clear" was given to return to an evacuation area. This is because a tsunami is not just a single wave; it is multiple waves across several hours causing water to "pile up" & flood low lying areas. The tsunami in 2011 1st arrived about 3 am, the "all clear" was not issued until about 7 hours later at 11 am; during that period it caused considerable damage.

At 7 HNN started showing live shots of Hanalei Bay since Kauaʻi is the 1st main island that the tsunami would reach. Other key areas they will be keeping an eye on are Kahului Harbor on Maui & Coconut Island in Hilo Bay on Hawaiʻi Island; these are areas known to have a lot of impact from tsunami because of the configuration of the sea bottom as it approaches shore. They also have live cams.

At 7:10 the Hanalei Bay live cam on Kauaʻi showed ... not much; it was getting dark & difficult to see what was happening. About 15 minutes later Dr. McCreery of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center gave a live report; the tsunami had arrived & was about 1 foot in height (so was easy to miss on the live cam in the fading light). Dr. McCreery said the Midway data showed that the 3rd wave was the largest, though that would not necessarily be the same here. During Dr. McCreery's report, the newscasters had been watching the live cam & saw the water level drop & some parts of reef become exposed with water coming in a little more on the shoreline. Later a time lapse replay showed more clearly the action of the water being drawn out quite a bit farther than during a normal tidal fluctuation over about a 30 minute period.

During the next hour or so, HNN provided reports on other areas & a lot of educational information about tsunami. HNN Chief Meteorologist Jennifer Robbins provided most of the coverage. 

Whether flood caused by river, storm surge, or tsunami its still powerful.

 

During the 8:20 update, government officials stressed that they would be observing for at least another 2 or 3 hours to ensure that the tsunami had passed before giving the "all clear". It was also noted that they are getting data & advice from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on when it was safe to issue the "all clear". They indicated they will be watching for the amplitude of the waves to be getting smaller & smaller. 

It looked like it was getting smaller.

Then there was spike higher than 3rd wave; that's why they watch for several hours.

The 8:50 update shared data from all the islands. Hilo had almost a 10' amplitude, the highest in the state, likely due to the shape of the bay; it's like a funnel. They have only seen a couple cycles in Hilo and are waiting for more to determine what's happening. On Kauaʻi they have had quite a few more cycles & might be getting ready to downgrade to "advisory" in the next update.

Coconut Island in Hilo Bay at 7:22 pm.

Water flooding Coconut Island parking lot, 8:42 pm.

Water begins to recede from parking lot at 8:47 pm.

I was still getting alerts at 9:10 pm, this time warning people not to go back in to the evacuation zones.

During the 10 pm update, Dr. McCreery said it appeared that maximum heights had been reached in Hawaiʻi. (They will be monitoring all night since they also provide data to South American countries along the Pacific & the tsunami has not yet reached those shores.) In the next couple hours they hope to be able to downgrade from a Warning to an Advisory but would only do that if they see consistent decreases in the amplitude to less than 3'. After that declaration it would then be up to the county officials to declare the "all clear" & allow people to head back to their homes. 

At 10:38 the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center downgraded from a Warning to an Advisory. Basically that means there are no longer high levels of water expected that could come onshore & cause damage; however, there was still enough water volume to cause surges that could change currents & make it unsafe to be in the water. I went to sleep after that. 

Kai had texted about 6:45 pm HST, wondering, "How's the tsunami warning being handled over there? Curious because we're technically in the zone here, but I haven't received an official warning yet." I told him my phone had been blowing up with alerts since 2:30 or about the last 4 hours or so. I also told him I thought Hawaiʻi Island had a robust alert system since our emergency services have to deal with volcanoes sort of daily & hurricanes annually from June 1st through November 30th. (Hurricanes come in from the east so Hawaiʻi Island generally gets hit 1st.) Where Kai lives was in a Tsunami Advisory zone.

Kai is in Juan de Fuca Strait coast area.

As noted above, that was in the Advisory area. 

About a month ago Trudy said she'd take me out to dinner at Patricio's Taqueria as a thank you for all the building materials I gave her. I told her she didn't need to do that since it was only the materials from the crate the new windows came in; she did not want any of the old windows or screens. But she insisted, so we planned to go to Patricio's tonight since most of my visitors have left & things have quieted down. I also got a $5 off coupon from Patricio's for my birthday that has to be used by the 31st. But the tsunami put that on hold; the tourists at Lapakahi were staying in Waikoloa Village which is quite high up on the hillside & not in any danger from the tsunami. But security guard Nicole told them to go back via Waimea since the coast road was jammed with people leaving the resorts at Waikoloa Beach, Mauna Lani, & Mauna Kea. We would have to go through that traffic jam to get to Patricio's (which is also out of the tsunami inundation zone) so we postponed until tomorrow night.

I did get several texts from friends in other areas worried about the effect of the tsunami on me. Mahalo for your concerns! I put this post together for you so you have an idea of what happens when I have to deal with a Tsunami Warning. I was in no danger, where I live is at about the 950' elevation; if I get water at my house we are all in a whole lot of trouble! Like 40 days & 40 nights of rain kind of trouble! I am also in an area that has no floods or landslides. The biggest threat for this area is a hurricane. So don't worry about me ... unless there is an impending hurricane that is expected to make landfall in North Kohala!