Hawaii Officials Sound Sirens to Alert Coastal Residents to Evacuate Ahead of Potenti

[MountainMan]

Hawaiian authorities sounded sirens to alert residents to evacuate coastal areas ahead of a tsunami generated by a major earthquake that hit Chile.

The sirens sounded through the pre-dawn dark on all Hawaii's islands at 6 a.m. (11 a.m. ET), alerting people in coastal areas of the need to retreat to higher ground.

Fox News Link

I made this separate breaking news story from the original earthquake one due to the fact I have heard reports that this tsunami has the very good potential to reach 15-20 feet high. If that happens, this will quickly become a major catastrophe.

Here in Washington, they have also sounded a low tsunami warning for the coast as this tsunami will definitely not reach the height of the one to hit Hawaii but does have the potential for very dangerous coastal currents.

[MountainMan]

From the Pacific Tsunami Center

EVALUATION

A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED THAT COULD CAUSE DAMAGE ALONG
COASTLINES OF ALL ISLANDS IN THE STATE OF HAWAII. URGENT ACTION
SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIVES AND PROPERTY.

A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF LONG OCEAN WAVES. EACH INDIVIDUAL WAVE
CREST CAN LAST 5 TO 15 MINUTES OR MORE AND EXTENSIVELY FLOOD
COASTAL AREAS. THE DANGER CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AFTER THE
INITIAL WAVE AS SUBSEQUENT WAVES ARRIVE. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS
CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST.
TSUNAMI WAVES EFFICIENTLY WRAP AROUND ISLANDS. ALL SHORES ARE AT
RISK NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION THEY FACE. THE TROUGH OF A TSUNAMI
WAVE MAY TEMPORARILY EXPOSE THE SEAFLOOR BUT THE AREA WILL
QUICKLY FLOOD AGAIN. EXTREMELY STRONG AND UNUSUAL NEARSHORE
CURRENTS CAN ACCOMPANY A TSUNAMI. DEBRIS PICKED UP AND CARRIED
BY A TSUNAMI AMPLIFIES ITS DESTRUCTIVE POWER. SIMULTANEOUS HIGH
TIDES OR HIGH SURF CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE TSUNAMI HAZARD.

Link

Elsewhere in that report, nearby towns had waves reaching 5ft. This is bad because if waves reached that height in such a short time before landfall, the waves heading towards Hawaii could very well be over 20ft in height.

[SarasotaRepub]

So now we have estimates ranging from 6ft to 60ft. :eek:

Hopefully it'll be 2ft.

[asdf2231]

Holy Hell...

[SarasotaRepub]

No Giant Waves??? :(

No Destruction?? :(

No Death? :(

:D

[SarasotaRepub]

I had a feeling this was going to happen. All the hype (with fairly good reason), but no cigar as far as any wave worth noting.

Next time people will ignore the warnings.

[Rockntractor]

To think it missed California.:(

[MountainMan]

To think it missed California.:(

Well, it really still isn't over yet.....We have to wait to see if Japan gets hit

[Kay]

This just breaking....Japan gets hit with 4 inch tsunami wave. :D

First Tsunami From Chile Quake Hits Japan, Initial Waves Small
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Associated Press

TOKYO — The first tsunami from the Chile quake hit Japan's outlying islands on Sunday, but the initial waves were small, though officials warned a bigger surge of water could reach the country's main islands.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said the first tsunami to reach Japan after the magnitude 8.8 quake off Chile was recorded in the Ogasawara islands. It was just 4 inches high. There were no reports of damage.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,587606,00.html

[djones520]

This just breaking....Japan gets hit with 4 inch tsunami wave. :D

When I lived in Japan as a kid, we'd get Tsunami warnings on tv all the time. I think the worse I saw was 6feet. Wasn't even enough to clear the tsunami breakers they have lining the whole country.