I should update this story, out of respect for those who did sustain damage here in the aloha state. The tsunami waves arrived in the middle of the night here. As daylight came and reports flooded in from parts of the islands, there was residual damage along the coastlines, that caught us by surprise.
What was so alarming is that the islands are in a direct impact zone for waves from this event. There was really nothing but time to protected us in this case. We were very fortunate it was not worse. (Believe me, we were just happy to see sunrise!)
Strong surges of 4-8 ft were recorded, with damages totaling $300 million at last count. It really depended where you were. Most small boat harbors were trashed to some degree, with piers breaking away and boats piling up on each other or sinking. Some of the most protected harbors faired the worse, due to rapid tidal washing.
Dozens of homes were damaged and one even floated away on the Big Island. The poor owner of this house was in Honolulu getting kidney dialysis at the time. Ouch.
The main road in Kona was washed out and hotels and stores there took a beating in the dark. Many are now closed. Historic and cultural sites saw serious damage. No one was killed.
This was shot hours after the main event.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Wh0_yNJhc&feature=related[/youtube]
It all was pin prick compared to the rotten luck of the good Japanese people, who will be totaling the tsunami costs in lives, billions of dollars and years of suffering. My hat is off to them for the wise way they prepare for disasters like this and the great dignity they have shown in the face of near total devastation.
Our Aloha goes out to them as well.
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