The Tsunami That Didn't Happen

There's no such thing as a 'false alarm' with a tsunami. It's coming and you know it thanks to modern communications. The only question is 'how big will it be'? A monster earthquake in Chile triggered a tsunami that moved across the ocean at 600+ miles per hour. How big will the waves be when it gets here? No way to know.

Buoys attached to the ocean floor sense the power of the tsunami and relay that data to NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). They notify areas that may be in danger. Sirens in the danger zones alert the people and it's up to them to evacuate the flood zones.

I heard the first siren at 7:00 and thought 'oh this is NOT good' and 'maybe it's a test'. No such luck. So I threw my computer and external drives (can't loose all the Grandson and Panto Marin footage) into the car and headed out. The gas station was already 6 lanes deep with 20+ cars to a lane. I patiently waited.

Not knowing where else to go, I called my boss to make sure he wasn't still at work. He wasn't and he invited me to come up and wait it out at his house. The roads were full but moving, about the same traffic as a normal commute morning. But the churches were all open and had signs out inviting people to come in and have coffee. People had parked and double parked along every street and had tents up in all the parks. It looked like a city of refugees.

From 8:00 am, when I arrived at my boss, Norman's house until 1:00 pm, we alternately watched the newscasts and view from his deck. The refinery where we work was in the flood zone and running at minimum rates to allow operators, who had refused to leave to shut it down quickly. Then all they had to do was evacuate. We could see the plant from the deck so when we saw the flares go off, we would know they were getting out.

Since the first place to be hit by the tsunami would be Hilo, they would have a bit of warning. How much? Ten minutes. Ten minutes to hit all the 'off' switches, get to a vehicle and drive 5 miles to a safe area. Just ten minutes.

The impact deadline came with a dozen or so surges of water ebbing and flowing into Hilo Harbor. The water may have come up 6+ feet, it was hard to tell from the webcam. It would flow into the bay and just as quickly flow out of the bay. It made about a 10 minute round trip. The water was muddy and there was whitewater around some of the rocks and pilings, but no wall of water to smash things down. Interesting, but not much excitement. And thank heaven!

We all left, thanking our host for giving us refuge, glad we had dodged a bullet and hoped people would not call it a false alarm (see the first paragraph).

Lacking anything better to do, I went to Turtle Cove to see what the water looked like. It was pretty rough. The tide was in but the cove was not murky as I had expected it to be. I picked some limu (seaweed) for the turtles, falling down on the rocks and putting a big bloody gash in my thumb in the process.

I waded into hip-deep water and waited for the turtles to come to me. They always do, the hungry little opportunists. Two young teens who had also gathered some turtle food stood with me feeding them while the waves broke over the rocks at the mouth of the cove. Then the water was waist deep. Then it was above my waist. Then it was chest deep. When it was almost up to my neck I realized none of us had moved and the water was almost 2 feet deeper than it had been moments ago. I said "Hmmm, I thought the tsunami was over!" One of the young men said "Guess not!" and we moved into shallower water leading the munching turtles with us. Within minutes, the water had receded again leaving us knee-deep in the cove.

In any case, the Non-Event was still interesting. But I wouldn't want to do it again.