Happy Tsunami Saturday!

Alright, bear with me, this is going to be the length of a novel. But the only reason I'm doing this is so you not only get an accurate account of what happened yesterday, "Tsunami Saturday", but also so I can look back on this and remember that strange, strange day.

So I usually sleep with my phone near my head, just because I always feel like I'll miss something if I don't. Yesterday morning at 3:58 am, I woke to a buzzing from my cell phone. I was so sleepy, I had gone to bed at 12:30 that night, so with just a few hours of sleep I read the text message on my phone. It was from Kali, telling me that there was a tsunami coming, we were going to possibly be evacuated, and the sirens were going to go off at 6am. So of course, i wake up and go turn on the tv. As the image flickers to life, it opens on the NOAA facility, a gentleman talking about the quickly approaching 12ft tsunami waves that are speeding towards the Hawaiian shores. My first reaction is that they are over-reacting. But as the hour ticks on, it gets more and more serious. People are lining up at Walmart, stores are scheduled to open at 6am so people can stock up. They're saying don't use your tap water once the water surges inland, electricity will be shut off...move to higher land. What the!? What am I SUPPOSED to think!? FEMA is sending troops, and before the wave has even HIT the governor declares Hawaii a State of Emergency. All before 6am!!

I call my dad, let him know of the impending danger, and go wake up Grady. At 6am, the quiet sleepiness of a Saturday morning in Waikiki is rudely awakened by the low, eerie rumbling of the tsunami sirens warming up. It's still dark outside, I rush to my balcony as the symphony of hundreds of simultaneous sirens, all over the island, and all over all of the Hawaiian islands, sound off. The only way to describe this eerie drawl is to envision what you've seen or heard of the air raid sirens from WWII. The low pitch, rising into a high ear-piercing shrill. As the sirens go off and start echoing off the mountains, lights start flickering on in all the hotels and apartment buildings. People come out on their balconies genuinely confused. My knees start to shake, this isn't a drill...it's the real thing. As the shrill sirens die to a hum, my whole house is up...and we're watching as the news casters start making more telephone calls, emergency reports and interviews.

I got dressed and decided that if this is REALLY as bad as everyone says it's going to be...I best go to the grocery store. I had been living off nothing practically, living off rice and water...so Grady and I decide to go get provisions for at least a few days...water bottles, bread. The small grocery store right next to us usually is completely empty. Before 6:10 the line wraps around the store and people start waiting with their water bottles, crackers and the line starts creeping towards the outside door. I waited in line for an HOUR and in that hour learned that Ala Moana shopping center, Windward Mall, most stores, restaurants, jobs...were closed. As I step outside again with my groceries, the sirens blare up again. It was creepy to see no cars on the roads, people running with food and water to their buildings. The sirens didn't die until I was back in my apartment.

Around 9am the situation looks like it's becoming more serious. The view of the ocean from my window that is usually dotted with maybe 3-5 boats is FILLED with ships. Not only small boats but the Coast Guard, Navy, Matson, Young brothers. All the dinner cruises, Navatek, The Star of Honolulu, Ali'i Kai...are all huddled out on the horizon. More and more ships are being forced out of the harbors by the USCG, they're closing the ports and any ships that can't leave, need to be brought out of their slips and onto land. The cop cars start partoling Waikiki, in groups of 2, making announcements through their loud speakers. I can't hear them, but watching the news, it seems as though they are going close down all the streets at 10. A cop car coming down my road, stops below the building, and what he says over his speaker sends chills down my spine...

"Attenion Attention Attention! Tsunami wave's are quickly approaching our shores. They are scheduled to hit at 11:58. Move to higher ground immediately or above the 3rd floor of your hotel or apartment building. This is a mandatory evacuation. Move to higher ground immediately!"

They drove off with their sirens.

10:30 am...the sirens go off again. But their reverberations fall on a ghost town. The hustle and bustle of Hawaii's most populate stretch of beach, their largest influx of tourism...is at a stand still. There are no cars on the streets, no people on the beaches. There are a few stragglers running to their buildings. The only humans you can see are standing on their balconies and roofs of the hotels, watching the water. Watching the hundreds of bobbing ships, being circled by Coast Guard helicopters. The only people on the roads are the occasional police and fire trucks, screaming their warnings to get to higher ground. The entire vibe of the city as the sirens go off again, is tense. It's eerie. It's strangely quiet. Everyone is just...waiting. What else are we supposed to do?

Our elevators are shut off, we've braced for the worst. I figure, it has to be bad...it's on CNN, Fox, everyone knows about it. It's headlines on the internet. Is it going to be Sri Lanka? The lady on the tv says the sirens will go off one more time at 11, than the emergency crews will get to higher ground, and than it's up to us to stay off beaches and roads.

11:00 am. Sirens go off again. Low moans of warming up tsunami sirens. I hold my breath. First wave is supposed to hit Big Island in 5 minutes. Will it be as destructive as they are expecting? They die out, and we are all glued to the tv.

11:05 passes.

11:12 passes.

11:20 passes.

Is this a joke?

Finally what seems to be a tidal change on the webcam in Hilo harbor happens. The rocks that we're covered start to appear, the water turns murky...than the slush of mud and water surges back into the harbor quickly. It happens again another few times. Doesn't look like anything terrible. The news says it's happening on Oahu. They cut to people standing on the cliffs of Diamond Head...the only way to describe their faces is.. "WTF?!" ...nothing.

Nothing.

Let me repeat.

Nothing.

Maybe like a slight tidal change. No surging water rushing out to expose dry reef. No 12ft wave crashing onto shore and destroying everything in it's path.

Than..it was done. Are you SERIOUS!?

Welp, they do say better safe than sorry. But that was definitely anti-climactic. It was actually disappointing. No flooding, no crashes palm trees, no running screaming and utter chaos. I bet they felt like idiots.

Oh oh oh...and to make it that much worse. After they called the whole warning off at 1:58 pm... I had to work on the dinner cruise. No other dinner cruises went out. All the ships that had gone out to sea to avoid the flux of the 12ft monster were coming IN to the harbor. We were going OUT. The only idiots that were going OUT after a day of sirens and warning and panic. Yup. The dinner cruise went OUT.

And it was choppy and it was surgy and they did say that it was because the tsunami. The swells were HUGE and people puked everywhere.

And than the tsunami was done.

And I slept like a baby that night.

Ventura county got more damage and tsunami-ness. My friend Jean posted pictures of her backyard in the harbor, the entire boat dock and boats sitting on mud and than the water rushing back in. That happened two or three times. That was a tsunami!!

It's ok. I heard the sand crab that got flipped over by the wave here in Hawaii was righted and he's living out his days in his tide pool.


...Tsunami Bree