All our Pacific girls okay? earthquake and tsunami

Julie Billingsley

Julie Billingsley

The Ghost of Awesome Past
Hope everyone is okay!! When I read the news this morning about the earthquake In South America it didn't even occur to me about it triggering a tsunami, but reports are saying the resulting tsunami could reach all the way to Japan and Australia!

The earthquake itself was in Chile and nearly all the Pacific is on alert or advisory for the tsunami. Luckily the tsunami is allowing for a lot of advance preparation. The tsunami waves are suppose to hit Hawaii in about an hour and a half. This is from the AP news:

The first waves in Hawaii were 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 did not immediately order evacuations, but advised people in low-lying areas to be on the lookout.

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.

A tsunami warning — the highest alert level — was in effect for Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands. An advisory — the lowest level — includes California, Oregon, Washington state, parts of Alaska, and coastal British Colombia.

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.
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So everyone be careful! I know we have a lot of Sweeties in all those areas. ((hugs)) hope everyone is okay!
 
WE are still in shock! We live inthe middle of the state, so I dont' think we will be effected, but eeeekkkk for our coastal girls! I can't remeber the last we had a warning here (if ever).:blink:
 
Hope all the girls in that tsunami alert areas stay safe.
The earthquake in Chile was huge! It was felt it here in some cities here Brazil too. :blink:
Some friends who are in Chile says they are isolated - the airport was seriously affected. They don't know when they'll be able to come back to Brazil and they feel aftershocks in like every hour after since the earthquake. They are sleeping when it happened (3:30 a.m)
Stay safe!
 
Aloha!!

We're evacuating now. Hawaii is freaking out. All of the gas stations on Maui are completely out of gas, I waited in line for gas for over an hour at 4:00 am!!

My house should be OK as we are about 3 miles inland, but my Mom's house is only about 100 yards from the ocean so she is freaking out. I spent the last hour re-stocking our disaster kit and loading it in the car and am just getting ready to head Upcountry. We really have no idea how large the Tsunami is going to be, but we know we definitely will be hit with something. Maui is expected to get hit in about an hour (around 11:20 local time).

The Civil Defense is handling things very well and the sirens started going off at 6:00 am this morning and have blasted every half hour since. The boats started going out to sea at 9:00 and about 10 minutes ago they started road closures. I did see on the news that there were some jackasses out surfing this morning. But they are doing a really good job here on Maui and the entire state is taking this very seriously and the entire coastline evacuation process seems to be going very smoothly.

I'm mostly concerned because DH is on Oahu for the State high school wrestling tournament (he coaches), which was yesterday and supposed to be today. It was cancelled today (along with EVERYTHING in the entire state - the whole place is shut down). I just feel nervous being separated during this potential disaster. The airports are all closed down right now and if this turns out to be big and there's destruction, he might not get home for awhile. Also, we lose electricity VERY easily, so I'm anticipating that being an issue even if it's a small tsunami. They are turning off our sewage pumps at 11:00, so there will be raw sewage dumping into the ocean, which is NOT good.

I will try to come back and update you when I can. But for now, I have to evacuate. Keep your fingers crossed that this ends up just being a really good drill for all of us and that it's small!!
 
hugs Jen! We'll all be praying for your safety and the safety of your family and property. Be safe!! I can't wait to hear your update and let us know you are safe. ((hugs))
 
I wanted to also add my thoughts and prayers to the Navy, Coast Guard, and other vessels that are out in the Pacific right now.
 
I am thinking of you all! The whole east coast here in Australia has Tsunami warning but especially Queensland and NSW. Please stay safe!
 
My prayers go out to everyone effected by the earthquake and tsunami.

The first wave is expected to arrive here on the southern coast BC within the hour but the waves aren't expected to be very large. We live inland so we won't be effected.
 
I'm in Sydney and have been watching all the beach surf cams on the coast and the water is FLAT, barely a wave around and it was meant to have hit here 30 minutes ago. New Zealand got 2 metre waves in some places so I'd say by the time it hits Hawaii it won't be anything dangerous, hopefully.
 
for hawaii they just said the water is rising 1-2 meters but it's not that bad yet.. they think 3 surges have come in so far.. they're thikning another 1-2 hrs and they'll know if everything is safe..
 
man this stuff scares me! Im on the east coast of nsw in australia, and although im about an hour inland, i had a minor freak out because i thought my husband was working on the coast this morning. Turns out he wasnt, and i needn't have worried anyway, as someone said above, the water is flat. Still concerns me when i see on the news, that people are swimming at the beach, even tho the beaches are all closed. They said that even though the tsunami didnt really affect us, the tides are going to be strong and dangerous.

Hoping all those affected stay safe!
 
Hi! Quick update...we seem to all be OK. We have had several large surges of water, but not one large wave like people imagine with a Tsunami. It was very creepy - you could see the water just sort of drain away and rush out to sea very very quickly and then all of a sudden it would just surge back in, filling everything back in and then some very very fast in one big surge. It did that probably 4-5 times. Kahului Harbor completely drained, which is just CRAZY, then filled back up - all in a matter of a few minutes. It's unbelievable to imagine that much water moving that quickly. The water level came up much higher than normal, up over the road in Kahului, leaving fish and debris on the road, but no major damage that I can tell.

Right now we're all breathing a sigh of relief. I think a big surge like that is the best kind of Tsunami to have - at least when you're prepared and everyone is evacuated. They're saying the water is still surging and the currents are going to be all messed up for several days, so we're staying out of the ocean probably all week.

They won't lift the warning for Hawaii though for another few hours just to be safe. And they're saying this bodes well for everyone in the path after us.

Thanks for thinking of us!
 
yay that you are doing great Jen! I've been flipping from the Weather Channel, Fox News, and CNN and it's so great to hear that this is mellowing out! How is your mom doing?
 
Julie Billingsley said:
yay that you are doing great Jen! I've been flipping from the Weather Channel, Fox News, and CNN and it's so great to hear that this is mellowing out! How is your mom doing?
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She's good! she drove about a few miles up the hill to a friend's house - the area she lives is much steeper than where I live, so the evacuation area is much narrower. Even though she is only 100 yards from the ocean, she was actually right on the edge of the evacuation zone. It's so weird how they figure that stuff out. So she just had to go inland about a mile. She was planning to come here until we found out we had to evacuate too!! They haven't given the official "all clear" yet, but it looks like a lot of people are heading home. Traffic is nuts. I think I'll sit tight for a few more hours at least.
 
Wow, this is just so scary! Jen, I'm happy to hear that everything seems to be calming down in your area. I'm definitely keeping the folks affected by the disaster in my prayers.
 
Oh gosh...how scary. I don't even watch the news so I had no idea. DH has 3 sisters in Hawaii. I better go tell him to check on them if he hasn't already!

So glad that you are all okay Jen! Hope everyone else is okay and has not damage.
 
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