Tsunami

Tsunami was Originally Posted on October 28, 2012 by lavarock

Today an earthquake in the area of Canada caused Hawaii to issue a tsunami warning for the state of Hawaii. Shoreline residents and visitors are being evacuated.

Currently it is 9:15pm in Hawaii and the wave is expected to hit about 10:30pm. We got less warning this time, due to where the quake was and the number of tsunami buoys between that area and us.

Many people do not understand tsunamis and it is not one big wave as seen in movies. It is waves under the surface that are compressed and at the last minute push water onto the shore. We do not expect waves of more than 6 feet, but the constant surges cause that water to extend onto land. The harbors are the worse spots because they are generally driveways that direct the water into a smaller area than waves just hitting the coastline.

At this time, any boats that can, are headed out to open water, where they may experience only small waves or strong currents, because as I say, the waves are under the surface.

We do not expect any major problems except that areas near the coast may get flooding. Since we have many hours notice, there should be plenty of time for people to walk to higher ground. In some cases, only being a few thousand feet from the shore may be high enough above sea level here. Still it is best to get further from the ocean.

People in high rise hotels usually will just evacuate to a higher floor to ensure safety.

The two or three most effected places will be Hilo on the Big Island (the other side of the island from me), the harbor on Maui and perhaps Kauai. These places are on the Canada side of the islands most in line with the wave.

The rest of us who live anywhere away from the ocean edge have just been asked to not clog roads. On my island that is not a problem but in Honolulu, that can be a problem because of the numbers of people there.

By the time most people read this, the event will be over and it *may* be a non-event, but I am betting there will be some flooding and beached boats.

The last tsunami we had here, we did have a house down the road from me, float out into the bay. I don’t think this will be anywhere near that big.

As they say, “Film at 11″

—– UPDATE —–

The warning was appropriate, but the large waves did not materialize. The quake was in an area that we could not accurately forecast or track wave heights. Besides, tourists now have another story to tell back home.

There is a song out here with lyrics that includes “Where I live, there are rainbows”. What the song fails to include are tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, lava flows and those tourists who ask “Do you know what time the whales swim past?”.

Still, we love the place, even with the occasional snowfall at upper elevations. Go figure!