VIDEO: Early morning tsunami scramble in Hilo
Hilo, Hawaii – Video by Tim Bryan
Although later events revealed that the Hawaiian Islands would be spared, early Saturday morning saw a pre-tsunami scramble that got underway before the sun rose.
Videojournalist Tim Bryan was out early capturing the tense moments as residents evacuated, crowded gas stations and boarded up storefronts.
Hilo, a town whose very identity is intertwined with the violence of past tsunamis, was going to be the first of the Hawaiian Islands to be affected by the surge from the 8.8 earthquake that devastated Chile late the night before. As Big Island residents went to bed the night before, emergency officials monitored the Pacific Ocean. A Tsunami Warning was issued overnight, and by 6 in the morning, the first siren rang out across the islands. The eyes of the state, and the world, were situated squarely on Hilo as the clock ticked down to the 11:00 a.m. tsunami landfall.
The Hilo Airport, situated in a tsunami zone, was shut down. Gas stations and markets were mobbed. Bayfront stores were boarded up by owners. Boaters hurried to lift their vessels out of the water at the Wailoa Small Boat Harbor.
Luckily for residents, the tsunami was not destructive. However, most residents say the precautionary measures, like the ones seen taken in this video, are a worthy exercise when the ocean threatens Hawaii’s shores.
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facebook comments:
This was a strange day, beginning with a rash of 4 AM phone calls, the realization that all my plans were utterly out the window, watching the sun rise to a day as beautiful as one could hope for, sirens gutting out their wailing message, and all the while knowing that the energy pulse from the great Chilean earth quake is in silent motion. Excellent video and stories! Thanks!
great story. i really like the 2Pac at the end in the back round great way to close out.
Why Saturday? Did tsunami speed up the Earth for a day in Hilo?
This video is from last year – 2010 – when a similar situation unfolded in Hilo