Environment

Hawaii Evacuation Zones in Effect After Hawaii Tsunami Warning

by Amy Judd | February 27, 2010 at 10:13 am

9402 views | 17 Recommendations | 3 comments

Update: 4:15pm PST - The official tsunami warning for Hawaii has been lifted as surge was lower than expected.

Previous reporting:

The Civil Defense Tsunami Evacuation Zone and the NOAA Hazard Map system is asking people to search by their address or their area to see if they are located in an evacuation zone and if they are Oahu officials are asking them to evacuate immediately. The website is experiencing really high traffic however, so be patient with the loading times.

All shores of Hawaii are at risk no matter which direction they face.

Tsunami waves are expected to hit Hawaii after 11am local time.

"If you live anywhere in the evacuation zone, you have to evacuate," said John Cummings, Oahu Emergency Management Department spokesman. "This is a serious event. We're going to treat this as a destructive-type tsunami."

Parts of Hawaii were last evacuated in 1994 due to tsunami evacuations.

People are being asked to stay off the roads, and move to higher grounds, and Civil Defense volunteers will be going door to door asking people to evacuate.

Cummings also said that there will be city buses going up and down shoreline areas picking up anyone who needs to get out of the inundation zone.

The buses are free and will have 'evacuation' on the front.

The enclosed bay areas of Hilo, Kahului, and Haleiwa are expected to be the hardest hit with waves from six to eight feet.

Along other shorelines, waves could be three feet.

All people are urged to stay away from the water.

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Roberto Alvarez-Galloso

at 13:57 on February 27th, 2010

Thank you for sharing. According to reports from Hawaii, the tsunami is inevitable.

Marcus Mann (not verified)

at 14:29 on February 27th, 2010

Gods speed to all of you. Please make yourself safe first then consider how you may help those in need. Remember, smart courage! We will see you soon and we will be there for you.