Saturday, February 27, 2010

Tsunami Warning

This is the view outside our deck at our beautiful Maui home. Right smack in a tsunami zone.
The Chilean 8.8 earthquake has created a Pacific tsunami that has forced evacuation of the coastal areas in the islands. It is predicted to hit at about 11 am Maui time. All island residents are taking this one seriously and preparing. There is time to get boats out to sea, buy food and water, prepare for power failures, seal things up and move to higher ground.

The view from our Maui living room.
Fortunately we are above water level here, by about 15 feet. Unfortunately we have a basement room that may fill with ocean water!
Hopefully the tsunami, which is predicted to be 9-12 feet tall, will not cause any damage to people or property in the islands. We are tuning in to Hawaiian newscasts and can hear the tsunami sirens blasting all over the state.

My thoughts and prayers are here today.


The following is a report from the Pacific Disaster Center which is monitoring and updating this tsunami's status every hour.

A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED THAT COULD CAUSE DAMAGE ALONG
COASTLINES OF ALL ISLANDS IN THE STATE OF HAWAII. URGENT ACTION
SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PROTECT LIVES AND PROPERTY.
A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF LONG OCEAN WAVES. EACH INDIVIDUAL WAVE
CREST CAN LAST 5 TO 15 MINUTES OR MORE AND EXTENSIVELY FLOOD
COASTAL AREAS. THE DANGER CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AFTER THE
INITIAL WAVE AS SUBSEQUENT WAVES ARRIVE. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS
CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE LARGEST.
TSUNAMI WAVES EFFICIENTLY WRAP AROUND ISLANDS. ALL SHORES ARE AT
RISK NO MATTER WHICH DIRECTION THEY FACE. THE TROUGH OF A TSUNAMI
WAVE MAY TEMPORARILY EXPOSE THE SEAFLOOR BUT THE AREA WILL
QUICKLY FLOOD AGAIN. EXTREMELY STRONG AND UNUSUAL NEARSHORE
CURRENTS CAN ACCOMPANY A TSUNAMI. DEBRIS PICKED UP AND CARRIED
BY A TSUNAMI AMPLIFIES ITS DESTRUCTIVE POWER. SIMULTANEOUS HIGH
TIDES OR HIGH SURF CAN SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE THE TSUNAMI HAZARD.
THE ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME IN HAWAII OF THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS
1119 AM HST SAT 27 FEB 2010

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I heard this morning, your place looks beautiful. Our home is safe, I think as we are further from the ocean. I pray all will pass and not bring further destruction. Thinking of you all the time. Love Sharon

Liza on Maui said...

We were spared - no tsunami disaster! Hallelujah! :)
Thank you for all your prayers. God is good.

Gberger said...

Dear Karen, I hope all was quiet and safe at your Maui house. It looks like a dreamy, gorgeous place. How I love that view! Thank you for posting photos of it, so we can have a little window into that part of your life.

Anna Flowergardengirl said...

I did think about you and that little shack ya'll own. Pitiful place. Hardly any views so I'm glad what little you did have wasn't messed up.

No seriously--we can laugh now--but we were watching it every minute and hoping there would be no harm. Glad to hear the good news.