Loading ...Exhausted today. Was running on nervous energy yesterday and last night, watching nonstop TV coverage of the waves arrival, waiting for damage reports that didn’t come. Tsunami Warning was downgraded to an ‘advisory’ as the wave amplitudes steadily decreased. The ‘advisory’ was cancelled this morning around 8am local time.
Kudos to the population and emergency services keeping us informed. Hawaii takes tsunamis very seriously, as we have had severe consequences in the past. Amazing videos last night as the coast guard cutter left Honolulu harbor, leading a parade of boats heading for deep water. Night time video of offshore Waikiki was like a starry constellation of boat lights on the sea. There was a cruise boat docked in Hilo with passengers ashore. The coast guard ordered the boat out to sea and closed the harbor, stranding 600 passengers ashore. There are not that many hotel rooms available in Hilo, and shoreline hotels were evacuating to above the 4th floor. They are only 7 stories high. So most of the boat passengers ashore were left to fend for themselves overnight. The ship went around the island to the Kona side, and in the morning a fleet of busses collected the Hilo passengers for a 100 mile ride around to the other side of the island at Kona for them to board the boat anchored offshore.
Shoreline flooding and harbors flushing out, but no serious damage reports. At Haleiwa the tsunami crest to trough was 8 or 9 feet with a period of 20 minutes, so it was slow and gentle water movement. As the wave heights gradually diminish the authorities downgraded to advisory status. A tsunami is not just one big wave. It is a series of ripples… very large and long in the ocean. And it behaves differently at different shorelines and bottom conditions, so we prepare for the worst and hope for the best.