Tsunami Warning Lifted

Honolulu, Hawaii (CNN) -- The tsunami warning is canceled for the state of Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

"There was no assessment of any damage in any county, which is quite remarkable," said Gov. Linda Lingle, who said witnesses had reported seeing "dramatic surges going on in the ocean."

An official with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the island chain had "dodged a bullet" after smaller-than-expected waves were reported as a result of a massive earthquake that struck Chile early Saturday.

The first waves of the tsunami were recorded on The Big Island around noon (5 p.m. ET), 16 hours after the Chilean temblor.

Gauges showed water levels rising 3 feet in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii and remaining at that level.

"It's almost the best sort of tsunami you can possibly have, one that's big enough that everyone sees that something happened, but not big enough to cause any damage," said Gerald Fryer, a geophysicist with the warning center.

The arrival of the tsunami waves was preceded by receding water that exposed reefs and churned up silt.

Earlier, Hawaiian residents scrambled to stock up on water, gas and food as sirens pierced the early morning quiet across the islands ahead of the tsunami.

Roads to beaches and other low-lying areas were closed and seaside hotels were moving guests to higher ground.

At Honolulu's Hilton Waikoloa Hotel, guests with cars headed inland and buses moved hundreds of others to a nearby evacuation center.

At supermarkets, residents stocked up on essentials like water and toilet paper in anticipation of the high waters. One sign at a local store limited families to two cases of Spam.

Beaches that would normally be crowded with sunbathers at midday on a Saturday were deserted. Commercial and recreational vessels seeking safe waters lined up a mile off the coast.

County sirens were sounding hourly "to alert residents and visitors to evacuate coastal areas," Hawaii's Civil Defense Division said in a statement.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning, the highest level of a tsunami alert, for the entire Pacific region, including countries as far away as Russia, Japan and Australia.

At the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center in Melbourne, Australia, co-director Chris Ryan said tsunami waves were beginning to strike parts of Tasmania "and we expect to begin to see more measurements along the Victoria and New South Wales coasts."

He predicted waves would reach a height of about half a meter (1.6 feet) above normal tide levels, but predicted they would cause little damage.

California and Alaska are under a tsunami advisory.

Tsunami waves came ashore along the Chilean coast shortly after the earthquake, U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Victor Sardina told CNN.

He said the largest was 9 feet near the quake's epicenter. Another wave, 7.7 feet, hit the Chilean town of Talcahuano, according to Eric Lau of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Video from the town showed one car sitting in a large expanse of water and boats littering the docks.

A large wave on the island of Juan Fernandez -- 400 miles (643 km) off Chile's coast -- killed three people, Provincial Governor Ivan De La Maza said. Ten people were missing.

Navigational buoys in Ventura County, California, sustained minor damage as a result of a 2-foot surge and waves, according to the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center. The Ventura County Fire Department had one report of damage to a resident's dock from the surge.

Speaking Saturday afternoon in Washington, President Obama urged people in Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa, also under a tsunami warning, to prepare.

"We can't control nature, but we can and must be prepared for disaster when it strikes," he said in a brief statement at the White House.

The 13th Air Force, in Hawaii, launched planes carrying loudspeakers to alert people in coastal areas not near sirens to evacuate.

Before the tsunami struck, Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle said she had already declared a state of emergency.

In 1960, a tsunami triggered by an earthquake on South America's west coast destroyed much of downtown Hilo and killed 61 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The earthquake had a magnitude between 8.25 and 8.5, the USGS said, and the waves in Hilo Bay reached 35 feet, but only 3 to 17 elsewhere.

CNN's Thelma Gutierrez, Mike Ahlers and Carey Bodenheimer contributed to this report.

Hawaii Blasts Sirens, Warns of Possible Tsunami

Marco Garcia / AP
Hawaii Department of Emergency Management officers warn homeless campers of the tsunami warning on Maile Beach, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010, in Waianae, Hawaii. 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 from the bottom of the planet to the top. Sirens blared in Hawaii to alert residents to the impending waves, with authorities asking people living near the water to evacuate. Hawaii Department of Emergency Management officers are combing the beaches warning homeless campers of the danger.

A tsunami triggered by the Chilean earthquake raced across the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, threatening Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast as well as hundreds of islands from the bottom of the planet to the top.

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.

The first waves in Hawaii are expected to hit shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday (4 p.m. EST; 2100 GMT) and measure roughly 8 feet (2.5 meters) 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.

In Hawaii, boats and people near the coast were being evacuated. Hilo International Airport, located along the coast, was closed. 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.

"These are dangerous, dangerous events," said John Cummings, spokesman for the Honolulu Emergency Management Department.

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 (one meter) 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 (1.8 meter) above normal hit near Concepcion, Chile shortly after the quake.

On the island of Robinson Crusoe, a huge wave from the tsunami covered half the village of San Juan Batista and three people were missing, said Ivan de la Maza, the superintendent of Chile's principal mainland port, Valparaiso.

A helicopter and a Navy frigate were enroute to the island to assist in the search, he said.

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.

British Columbia is hosting the Winter Olympic Games, but provincial officials said the venues are not under threat.

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 (2 meters) high swept ashore, but no damage was immediately reported.

Meanwhile, disaster management officials in Fiji said they have been warned to expect waves of as high as 7.5 feet (2.3 meters) 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 (14 meters) 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 (one to four meters) in height, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted earthquake experts as saying the tsunami would likely be tens of centimeters (inches) high and reach Japan in about 22 hours.

A tsunami of 28 centimeters (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.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/02/27/national/a094731S03.DTL#ixzz0glXd8bH7

Tsunami Expected to Hit Big Island

Hawaiians braced for an expected tsunami from a giant earthquake off the coast of Chile, as officials in the state evacuated thousands of residents and tourists to higher ground.

The "Big Island" of Hawaii may face the biggest threat of wave damage, officials on the islands said.

"Residents right on the coast should be concerned and evacuate the coast," especially in places like Hilo Bay on the island of Hawaii, said Barry Hirshorn, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.

The tsunami-warning center's models, based on readings from sensors, are predicting "very rough waves" from six to 10 feet high by the time the tsunami hits Hawaii at about 11:00 a.m. local time, Mr. Hirshorn [cq] said. Any major tsunami waves could be damaging, he said, because "the don't crash on the beach. They streamroll in and they streamroll out."

Evacuations were taking place on low-lying areas throughout the state, including the islands of Maui, Kauai and the most populated island, Oahu, where Honolulu lies.

The last time statewide evacuations were ordered for a tsunami was in 1994, but large waves failed to materialize then.

Some of the most intense preparations were taking place in the greater Hilo area, said Bill Hanson, administrative officer with the Hawaii County Civil Defense on the Big Island. The city of Hilo is situated on the southeastern side of the Big Island, facing the direction from which a tsunami wave as high as 14 feet was projected to hit, Mr. Hanson said.

The city is preparing for major damage if the waves are big. "It's not a matter of if, but when it will happen," Mr. Hanson said.

Federal officials closed the Hilo International Airport at 5:30 a.m. Saturday so the estimated 5,000 residents of coastal subdivisions lying next to it could evacuate more quickly across the tarmac, Mr. Hanson said.

Hotels were also emptying guests out of resorts. At the beachfront Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, officials said they had begun evacuating guests from the 286-room resort before tsunami sirens were scheduled to sound across Hawaii at about 6 a.m. They didn't have an estimate on evacuees, but said the hotel was 75% full.

Hotel staff, meanwhile, said they planned to follow suit afterwards. Desk clerk Marian Somalinog said she planned to evacuate at 9:30 a.m. -- almost two hours ahead of when the wave was expected to hit -- but added that she wasn't overly concerned. "If it's my time to go it's my time to go," Ms. Somalinog said.

The warnings were being taken seriously in Hawaii because the state -- especially around Hilo -- has been hit by giant tsunami waves before. At least three big ones have struck Hilo since World War II, including one in 1946 that killed 163 people and another in 1960 that killed 61, said Mr. Hanson.

The most recent loss of life from a tsunami on the island occurred in 1975 when a big wave killed three campers at a beachfront park, he said.

Authorities were hoping loss of life would be minimized this time, in part because tsunami drills are commonplace on the Big Island and throughout Hawaii. Evacuations were also being ordered on other parts of the island, including the affluent Kohala Kona coast where many large resorts are situated.

Waves there were expected to rise as much as seven feet. Other parts of Hawaii, including Maui and Oahu, were not considered in as great a threat because the Big Island lies in the path of the projected tsunami wave and would take the brunt of its force, Mr. Hanson said.

In Hilo, most of the area's 50,000 residents live on ground high enough to escape much damage from a tsunami. The area of greatest concern is a coastal plain around Hilo Bay where the Keaukaha subdivision by the international airport is located, as well as downtown Hilo.

Elsewhere, the tsunami was disrupting air routes to and from Hawaii. At San Francisco International Airport, delays in flights to airports in Hawaii were being reported as a result of the tsunami preparations.

People should stay away from coastlines for six to 12 hours after the wave to be safe, said Mr. Hirshorn, because the first waves aren't necessarily the biggest

Shortage of Rental Cars in Hawaii

By Doug Porter

An interesting thing happened this week. Hawaii car rental companies like Avis, Budget, Thrifty and all the others actually ran out of cars. Visitors to Hawaii are up and shortages exist on all islands.

For 8 or 9 months now, rental companies have been reducing the number of cars in their inventory to cut costs. Fleets have been reduced by more than 1500 cars, but the bump in visitors from President’s weekend and Mid-winter break caught rental companies by surprise. Either things aren’t as bad as they expected, or perhaps – dare I say it – we’ve rounded a corner?

Of course it’s too early to say, but the increase in visitors to the islands is a good sign. Not just for car rental companies, but for airlines, restaurants, hotels, vacation rentals and just about everyone else in Hawaii. And, if it’s the beginning of a national trend it could start to spread to other sectors. Rental car companies will start increasing fleets and helping automakers, etc.

I may be grasping at straws here, but I’ll take any good news I can get.

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