Hawaiians cram roads away from coasts as tsunami waves arrive

Many Hawaiians have taken into account official advice to leave the coastal areas, after a powerful earthquake at thousands of kilometers near Russia caused a warning of tsunami in the American state and other parts of the Pacific.

Tuesday evening, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that waves of several feet high were recorded on the islands of Maui, Oahu and Hawaii, where the capital Honolulu is located.

“Urgent measures should be taken to protect lives and property,” said the center, adding that the danger can persist for hours.

Governor Josh Green told people in the low areas to stay calm and move to higher ground, but then took a tone full of hope, saying that he had not yet seen a “wave of consequences” in the state.

He noted that the roads took care as people evacuated their houses.

The residents of Maui, who were devastated by forest fires two years ago, were one of those who moved on higher grounds.

Other regions of the American West Coast – including California and Alaska – have made their own preparations under a lower tsunami opinion from the National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC).

An NTWC warning means that widespread floods are expected or occurred, while an opinion indicates that there is a potential for currents or strong waves that could be dangerous.

The seismologist, Dr. Lucy Jones, provided that the waves could damage ports and properties by the water in Hawaii – and perhaps in California – but would not cause catastrophic loss of life in the Americas.

The highest waves could measure several feet in Hawaii, noted Dr. Jones, but in comparison, they reached 42 feet (13 m) during a deadly tsunami in Japan in 2011.

But many Hawaiians take no chance.

David Dorn told the BBC Taht that he was no stranger to the warnings of Tsunami, after having experienced a pâté of ocean houses in the coastal city of Kihei, in Maui, for 30 years. But he and his wife treated him differently.

“We are trying to take them all seriously, but most people take them a little slightly,” he said about the warning sirens that have been skyrocketing since the first alert.

He and his wife had evacuated to higher land and planned to spend the night in their van in an interior shopping center.

Mr. Dorn said that before leaving their house, he had moved his electronics to their attic, hoping that even if sea water enters the building, it would not reach the rafters.

His biggest concern was traffic, especially if the electric posts fell and blocked the roads.

“Traffic is still a problem, and that gets worse. And it is at worst in the event of an emergency like this,” he said.

Another Maui resident, Roger Pleasingon, told BBC that traffic was “like New York right now”.

“I was going to the grocery store, but I think I might might skip the grocery store and get out of here,” he added.

While Maui was preparing for the arrival of the waves, the shelters were opened and the water installations were closed to protect them from possible damage.

It has been 10 years since Felicia Johnson, a resident for life of the island, fled a tsunami for the last time. Late Tuesday, she found herself again to move on a higher ground.

Ms. Johnson, 47, had seen the water level moving away, then getting up significantly – describing a model generally observed with tsunamis.

“It’s strangely weird,” she exclaimed, while exciting her truck to spend a night with her family and friends in the mountains.

She compared the situation to the fire that struck Lahaina two years ago, devastating the island and her community.

“All I can do is leave the house. I am leaving, so I really worry that something happens. But I mean, what can you cry?

“We went through this with the fires, and there was no warning, and it was so devastating. Now we have so much warning that if we don’t make our fault.”