"In Hawaii, water began pulling away from shore off Hilo Bay on the Big Island just before noon, exposing reefs and sending dark streaks of muddy, sandy water offshore. Waves later washed over Coconut Island, a small park off Hilo's coast.
The tsunami caused a series of surges that were about 20 minutes apart, and the waves arrived later and smaller than originally predicted. The highest wave at Hilo measured 5.5 feet high, while Maui saw some as high as 6.5 feet."Translation from news-speak: it was pretty much a fizzle. Coconut Island is basically flat, and at its highest only gets maybe 4-5 feet above sea level. It's the island just behind me with the trees on it in this picture (taken in August, not right before the tsunami!):
Still, better safe than sorry, after all.
Also,
"Sirens blared in Hawaii to alert residents to the potential waves."I can attest to that one!
Whew! We were all really worried. :-) I think you should include a photo of the cool tsunami evacuation signs all over Hilo.
ReplyDeleteHaha! I didn't hear anything. Even after you guys woke me up I still couldn't hear the siren. Only after I took a few steps out of my room then I heard it.
ReplyDeleteThe banging on the door was super annoying. But thanks for waking me up anyways.
Better to wake up to annoying bangs on the door then to wake up in an empty house.
6.5 feet...we have bigger surf than that here in Cali!
ReplyDelete@Mom: Oh, those signs? That's not a bad idea...
ReplyDelete@Jonathan: Yup. And even better than waking up in a flooding house!
@Allison: :D
Told you it was anticlimactic.