Tsunami Reaches Hawaii; Tides Fluctuate
Tsunami Forces Hawaii Tide to Recede, Surge as Effect of Chilean Quake Hits U.S.; Advisories Issued for Calif., Alaska
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Dr. Charles McCreery speaks on the phone at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010, before a computer monitor showing the possible path of tsunami waves from an earthquake in Chile. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
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Photo Essay Tsunami Alert A tsunami triggered by the Chilean earthquake raced across the Pacific Ocean, threatening Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast as well as hundreds of islands
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Photo Essay Chile Earthquake An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile early Saturday, southwest of the capital Santiago.
While urging caution, an official from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center gave an optimistic view about the tsunami hitting against the Hawaii coastline after Saturday morning's 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile.
"I think we dodged a bullet," Gerard Fryer, a geophysist for the tsunami center of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which issues warnings to almost every country around the Pacific Rim and to most of the Pacific island states, told reporters in Hawaii Saturday afternoon. "It's sort of the best tsunami you think you can have."
The tsunami hit Hawaii around noon local time. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear, but the effects of the tsunami were obvious.
Water began pulling away from shore off Hilo Bay on the Big Island just before noon local time, exposing reefs and sending dark streaks of muddy, sandy water offshore. Water later washed over Coconut Island, a small park off the coast of Hilo.
CBS News Affiliate KGMB-TV in Honolulu reported that the water at Hilo Bay started to recede about 45 minutes after the tsunami was expected to hit the Hawaii coast. KGMB-TV reported that the tide was about a half foot of water lower, exposing rocks, which could be a sign of the impending tsunami.
The first waves in Hawaii were expected to hit shortly after 11 a.m. local time Saturday (4 p.m. EST) and measure roughly 8 feet at Hilo. A look at the shoreline at that time showed little abnormal wave activity, but officials continued to urge caution.
Most Pacific Rim nations did not immediately order evacuations, but advised people in low-lying areas to be on the lookout.
Earlier, sirens blared in Hawaii to alert residents to the potential waves. As the waves expected arrival drew near, roads into the tourist-heavy Waikiki were closed off. Police patrolled main roads, telling tourists to get off the streets.
On several South Pacific islands hit by a tsunami last fall, police evacuated tens of thousands of coastal residents.
Victor Sardina, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the tsunami would be a series of big waves, rather than a wall of water.
Charles McCreery, the director of the center, said the tsunami would be "a lot like a fast high tide" and could pose dangers for several hours after the initial waves hit.
Special Section: Earthquake in Chile
Tsunami Warning for Hawaii (NOAA Alert, 2.27.10)
Hawaii's 1960 Tsunami
Tsunami warnings - the highest alert level - are also in effect for Guam, American Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands, as well as Australia and New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines and Russia.
An advisory - the lowest level - includes California, Oregon, Washington state, parts of Alaska, and coastal British Colombia.
In Hawaii, boats and people near the coast were being evacuated. Hilo International Airport, located along the coast, was closed.
"These are dangerous, dangerous events," said John Cummings, spokesman for the Honolulu Emergency Management Department.
CBS News Pentagon correspondent David Martin reports that the U.S. Navy has sent ships to evacuate four low-lying facilities - one of them a hospital - on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
The Navy was moving more than a half dozen vessels Saturday to try to avoid damage from the tsunami.
A frigate, three destroyers and two smaller vessels were being sent out of Pearl Harbor and a cruiser out of Naval Base San Diego. At the Pentagon, Navy spokesman Lt. Myers Vasquez said the ships will be safer out on the sea than if they were tied to piers where they could be banged around by the waves, meaning damage to the vessels as well as the piers.
Elsewhere in Hawaii, many private boats also left their docks to ride out the tsunami at sea.
In Honolulu, residents lined up at supermarkets to stock up on water, canned food and batteries. Cars lined up 15 long at several gas stations.
In a statement, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said officials were closely monitoring the situation: "FEMA stands ready to assist should a request for assistance be made, and does have pre-deployed assets in Hawaii, including food, water, generators and other resources. We urge all individuals to follow the direction provided by local officials.�
The first waves in Hawaii are expected to hit shortly after 11 a.m. local time Saturday (4 p.m. EST; 2100 GMT) and measure roughly 8 feet at Hilo. Most Pacific Rim nations however did not order evacuations, but advised people in low-lying areas to be on the lookout.
Unlike other tsunamis in recent years, emergency officials along the Pacific have hours to prepare and possibly evacuate residents.
"We've got a lot of things going for us," said Charles McCreery, the director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which issues warnings to almost every country around the Pacific Rim and to most of the Pacific island states. "We have a reasonable lead time.
"We should be able to alert everyone in harm's way to move out of the evacuation zones," he said.
(CBS)
Authorities are closing beaches in Northern California's San Mateo County, including beaches in Pacifica and Half Moon Bay, where the National Weather Service has predicted strong currents and choppy waves for several hours starting around 1 p.m. PT.
Sirens blared in Hawaii to alert residents to the impending waves, with authorities asking people living near the water to evacuate. On several South Pacific islands hit by a tsunami last fall, police evacuated tens of thousands of residents from the coast.
In Tonga, where nine people died in a Sept. 29 tsunami, police and defense forces began evacuating people from low-lying coastal areas as they warned residents that tsunami waves about three feet high could wash ashore within three hours.
"I can hear the church bells ringing to alert the people," National Disaster Office deputy director Mali'u Takai said. "We will move up to 50,000 people to the interior and away from the coasts."
Waves 6 feet above normal hit near Concepcion, Chile shortly after the quake.
A tsunami warning - the highest alert level - was also in effect for Guam, American Samoa, Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands. An advisory - the lowest level - has been extended to include Oregon, Washington state, parts of Alaska, and coastal British Colombia.
The White House is keeping close watch on the Chilean quake, which has raised the possibility of a tsunami striking Hawaii. Presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs said the U.S. stands ready to help the Chilean people "in this hour of need."
American Samoa Lt. Gov. Aitofele Sunia activated emergency services and called on residents of shoreline villages to move to higher ground. Police in Samoa issued a nationwide alert to begin coastal evacuations. The tsunami is expected to reach the islands Saturday morning.
In French Polynesia, tsunami waves up to 6 feet high swept ashore, but no damage was immediately reported.
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Meanwhile, disaster management officials in Fiji said they have been warned to expect waves of as high as 7.5 feet to hit the northern and eastern islands of the archipelago and the nearby Tonga islands.
A lower-grade tsunami advisory was in effect for the coast of California and an Alaskan coastal area from Kodiak to Attu islands. Tsunami Center officials said they did not expect the advisory would be upgraded to a warning.
Waves were likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of Saturday's quake. A tsunami wave can travel at up to 600 mph, said Jenifer Rhoades, tsunami program manager at the National Weather Service in Washington, DC.
The sirens in Hawaii will also be sounded again three hours prior to the estimated arrival time.
McCreery said he didn't know how big the waves will be, but expected them to be the largest to hit Hawaii since 1964.
"If you're in an evacuation zone, police or civil defense volunteers would instruct you to evacuate, or instructions will come out over the radio and TV," said Shelly Ichishita, spokeswoman for the state's civil defense.
If coastal areas are evacuated, visitors in Waikiki would be moved to higher floors in their hotels, rather than moved out of the tourist district, which could cause gridlock.
Some Pacific nations in the warning area were heavily damaged by a tsunami last year.
On Sept. 29, a tsunami spawned by a magnitude-8.3 earthquake killed 34 people in American Samoa, 183 in Samoa and nine in Tonga. Scientists later said that wave was 46 feet high.
Past South American earthquakes have had deadly effects across the Pacific.
A tsunami after a magnitude-9.5 quake that struck Chile in 1960, the largest earthquake ever recorded, killed about 140 people in Japan, 61 in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines.
That tsunami was about 3.3 to 13 feet in height, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted earthquake experts as saying the tsunami would likely be tens of inches high and reach Japan in about 22 hours.
A tsunami of 11 inches was recorded after a magnitude-8.4 earthquake near Chile in 2001.
The Meteorological Agency said it was still investigating the likelihood of a tsunami in Japan and did not issue a formal coastal warning.
Australia, meanwhile, was put on a tsunami watch.
The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning Saturday night for a "potential tsunami threat" to New South Wales state, Queensland state, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.
Any potential wave would not hit Australia until Sunday morning local time, it said.
New Zealand officials warned that "non-destructive" tsunami waves of less than three feet could hit the entire east coast of the country's two main islands and its Chatham Islands territory, some 300 miles east of New Zealand.
The Philippine Institute of Vulcanology and Seismology issued a low-level alert saying people should await further notice of a possible tsunami. It did not recommend evacuations.
Seismologist Fumihiko Imamura, of Japan's Tohoku University, told NHK that residents near ocean shores should not underestimate the power of a tsunami even though they may be generated by quakes on the other side of the ocean.
"There is the possibility that it could reach Japan without losing its strength," he said.
(NOAA/USGS/AP)
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