Report from my mother

[zolac_no_miko]

"Not as much damage as there could have been. I'm okay in Hilo, haven't heard from anyone else but if Tony stayed in his penthouse we're likely all just fine.

My office is in an inundation zone, and we're still on a Watch so I couldn't get there even if I wanted to because the area is evacuated and roadblocks are in place. County offices are closed, schools are closed, and my boss just told me that there's no work for me today.

3' waves on Kauai, a foot or so in Pearl Harbor, 7' in Kahului Harbor (flooded about a block inland), Kona got damaged, no word on Hilo yet. Apparently Kealakekua Bay had a surge that went in 100'. Flooding in Lahaina, Kihei...I'm listening to the radio now.

No deaths or injuries here. Japan...that's another matter.

Lots of debris on Maui coasts, no reports of property damage.

As of 7:09 this a.m., there is no all-clear yet."

EDIT: More from my mother: "Still zero word on anything here in Hilo; Kona Coast seems pretty messed up, though, and I hear a restaurant in Honolulu (Sand Island area) is destroyed.

Water as high as 11 feet in Kona, reached "the lobby of a hotel" per NPR.

The earthquake I felt last night while checking my facebook pages is apparently M4.6... A few of my FB friends felt it, too. I was told it was off the Kalapana coast." [Hawaii's earthquake last night was unrelated to the one in Japan.]

And later: "No damage reported on Kauai. Extensive damage at Keehi Small Boat Harbor on Oahu. Wave was 4.5 feet in Hilo, no reports of damage."

And: "Surge in Kahului harbor went in 1/3 mile.

11' surge in Kailua-Kona. King Kam hotel lobby got flooded. Canoes damaged. Sections of Alii Drive are gone. Repeated surges over the 8' seawall. NPR airing a call from my friend Jan War who works at the Natural Energy Lab near Keahole Airport; the lab is okay.

Honolulu Airport is open, but apparently a number of big planes heading here (including from Japan) turned around.

I think it's kinda weird there's zero word about Hilo Bay!"

I am also stalking the Honolulu Star-Advertiser website. Waves in Kahului reached up to 12 feet. Waves caused relatively minor but widespread damage in Kailua-Kona: a foot of water in the King Kam lobby; water entered Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and several other businesses fronting Kailua Bay. At least $500,000 of damage at La Mariana Sailing Club in Ke'ehi Lagoon; three docks were destroyed and some boats sank. The "all clear" has been issued for O'ahu and Kaua'i; my dad says the tsunami warning has been downgraded from a warning to an advisory.

Listening to NPR: the U.S. is rushing coolant to the damaged nuclear power plant in Japan and is promising to help with disaster clean-up. Japanese authorities are considering releasing a cloud of slightly radioactive steam to relieve pressure in the plant. So far high waves but no damage on the Oregon coast. We were really lucky; the tsunami hit as the tide was going out, otherwise it might have been worse. The highest West Coast waves so far were 8.1 feet in Santa Cruz, California; caused some damage and sank some boats. Four people in Crescent City, California were swept out to sea; one of them died.

Comments

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Was about to ping you to make sure everything was good on your end. Thank you for checking in!

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm pretty far from the drama here in Portland. None of my family lives in the tsunami zone, so I was never too worried about that. I was glad to get some proper news from the home front, though.

[magusronin.livejournal.com]

Radioactive steam that would be rather unfortunate, but better than a catastrophic breach I suppose. No such thing as safe nuclear power.

One death of the US coast that's too bad. Tragic, if they miss the warnings, stupid if they decided they wanted a close-up view of a tsunami.

And the Earth is still shaking over there, in the last two hours alone they've had two aftershocks over magnitude 6.

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this is why I've always been on the fence about nuclear power.

I don't know what the story is with the people who got swept out to sea, just that it happened.

[sirona-gs.livejournal.com]

That's really good to hear, that there's just been some property damage. I mean, that's awful, too, but at least everyone's okay! I'm glad you guys got plenty of warning to get everyone sorted out. My heart's in my throat over the nuclear power plants in Japan; I just can't help but think of Chernobyl, because it was so close to home. I really, really hope they manage to sort it out without too many problems! I've been CNN-deprived since I left home at 3pm, so news is great!

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, overall, things aren't too bad in Hawai'i. We had plenty of warning, and we're used to the whole tsunami evacuation thing. The stuff going on in Japan, though, that power plant and everything else... awful, scary stuff.

I am so so so so glad I've got radio on my iPod. Let's hear it for technology.

[regonym.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad that you and your family in Hawaii are all okay! I was freaking out on Friday trying to check in with Fluffy and Noriko to make sure they were okay too. :((( I wish they could send NCCC teams to other countries.