Hawaiians brace for 6-foot tsunami waves
The evacuation area includes Waikiki, but wave heights are expected to be lower there because of a barrier reef.
Oahu resident Dain Okimoto looks down on the lights of Waikiki from Tantalus Drive. Okimoto was one of thousands who sought higher ground after the tsunami warning. (Eugene Tanner, Associated Press / March 10, 2011)
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By Alexandra Zavis and Rong-Gong Lin II Los Angeles Times Staff WritersMarch 11, 2011, 4:37 a.m.
Reporting from Oahu, Hawaii and Los Angeles --Hawaiians were bracing for tsunami wave heights of up to 6 feet high Friday morning after the devastating 8.9 earthquake near Japan.The possible tsunami was expected to hit Hawaii at about 3 a.m. local time, or 5 a.m. Pacific time. Maximum wave heights of up to 6 feet could approach Hilo, on the northern edge of the island of Hawaii, and Haleiwa Harbor, on the northern edge of the island of Oahu, officials said.
Waikiki, the tourist hub in Honolulu, however, is protected by a barrier reef, so wave heights there were expected to be lower.
Photos: Scenes from the earthquake
Some refuge centers at schools were already filling up in the overnight hours, and lines were forming in front of convenience stores. Police combed shoreline neighborhoods, ordering evacuations and closing roads.
Officials warned that tsunami can last for hours, and attract multiple destructive waves. They also said that people were showing up at hospitals seeking shelter, and authorities urged them to go elsewhere to keep the medical facilities available for any injured people.
John M. Cummings III, spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management, said authorities consider the warning "very, very serious."
"Anyone in the shoreline areas should get out now," he said. The evacuation area included the tourist hub of Waikiki, where thousands of people are packed into a string of beachfront hotels. Hotel guests staying in concrete or steel-reinforced buildings were being moved to the third floor for safety, Cummings said.
City buses have been converted into evacuation shuttles to help get people to refuge areas at schools and parks, where they can wait out the possible tsunami.
Warning sirens were sounding about once every hour since they began ringing just before 10 p.m. Local time. Tsunami waves could hit the islands just before 3 a.m., or about 5 a.m. Pacific time, said Chip McCreary of the the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center told reporters.
"These are not like surf waves," he said. "These waves effectively wrap around islands, so all coasts will be affected."
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center officials warned that "urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property. Tsunami waves effectively wrap around islands. All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face."
McCreary said the waves would reach the island of Kauai first and would take between half an hour and an hour to cross the state.
Residents in coastal areas were calling and texting each other, sending e-mails and dropping in on their neighbors to discuss possible evacuation plans. At least some were skeptical that any significant waves would hit Hawaii. The last time a tsunami warning was issued in Hawaii was after the earthquake in Chile in February last year.
"It was nothing," said Susanne Ball, a 46-year-old artist who lives just blocks from the beach in the eastern Oahu town of Kailua. "We went to somebody's home up on the hill. ... The tsunami came and went and there was just nothing. ... There wasn't even a ripple."
She went to bed and said she would wake up at 2 a.m. to check the news and decide whether to evacuate.
Authorities urged anyone who isn't in the tsunami evacuation zone to stay off the roads to keep them clear for those who might need to escape.
The massive tsunami generated in the wake of an 8.9-magnitude earthquake off the east coast of Japan has already caused extensive damage.
Early Friday, authorities issued a tsunami warning for Oregon and northern and central California; Southern California was under a lower-level tsunami advisory.
Tsunami activity of more than 2 feet has struck the Pacific island of Saipan, and tsunami waves of more than 1 foot have hit Wake Island.
Tsunamis are a series of long ocean waves, and each wave crest can last five to 15 minutes or more and inundate coastal areas, the warning center said.
"The trough of a tsunami wave may temporarily expose the seafloor but the area will quickly flood again," the warning center said.
Television images have already shown significant tsunami damage in Japan, inundating farmland, structures, and automobiles along the coast. As the tsunami hit land there, muddy water swept cars, roofs and churning debris across fields and flat lands. News footage shot from the air captured vehicles fleeing ahead of massive sheets of water that carried burning structures along on the surface. The tsunami overtook homes and roads, showing little sign of ebbing.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
Comments (13)
Add / View comments | Discussion FAQJennBurke at 4:44 AM March 11, 2011I'm praying for the families effected by this; but also for my family that is stationed in Oahu!!!!
mc6565 at 4:09 AM March 11, 2011i thought evacuate meant leave, not go to the third floor???
AminBandeali at 3:07 AM March 11, 2011
http://healthomg.com/2011/03/10/japanese-quake-how-to-survive-a-tsunami/
Some tips to survive a Tsunami. Please share with your loved ones in the affected area.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Hawaiians brace for 6-foot tsunami waves
via latimes.com
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