At least in Kona, Tsunami turned out to be a dud. Had barely perceptible surge in Honokohau Harbor. As luck would have it, removed my
engine controls on Saturday so I was stuck in the slip. Spent about 4 hours on the
boat with no excitement. Glad I took my Kindle down. The harbors facing
Canada had more significant waves, 1 1/2 metes at Kahalui on Maui, but not the long lasting surge of the
Japan Quake.
Big difference form the Japanese Quake where the surge was outrageous in the Harbor. Believe two
boats were sunk cause they got sucked under the fixed piers and a few others were badly scraped up. Surge lasted for more than 12 hours. Most people took their
boats out or damage would have been astronomical. Heard some
power boats came back to their slips too early. They'd turn to line up with their slip and end up slipping sideways two or three slips and then back again. Fortunately most gave up and went back out to sea till things had calmed down a bit more. I was one of the last boats to come back to my slip because my
boat is such a pig in tight quarter maneuvering. Had about 15 people waiting on the pier to help me back in. Honokohau has
mooring buoys for stern tie and bow to the
dock or vice versa. No fingers between the boats, so a screw up could cost a lot of
paint. A bunch of people stuck around to help those who came in after them. A combination of altruism and self protection. I tried to come back in the Harbor around 7am which was about 5 hours after the first wave hit. The harbor entrance has a dog leg and there was a huge whirlpool there. I did a quick 180 and didn't try and come back in till 4pm.
The problem with these major quakes that have been happening around the Pacific is there is virtually no measuring stations between us and where they are generated. Don't know what the waves will be till they get here. The
Chile quake was minor as was this one but the
Japan one wasn't. We had no idea how significant the Tsunamis are till it's almost on top of us. It's a significant issue as there are something like 80,000 people living in the Tsunami inundation zone in Honolulu. An 8 plus earthquake with significant ocean bottom movement that generated a big tsunami could be disastrous if people get complacent.
Think we've had 4 Tsunami warnings in the last 10 years. The first one generated a horrific traffic jam in Honolulu that would have ended up with thousands killed if there had been a significant wave. They learned from that and no longer evacuate the hotels in Waikiki. They move the guests up to the 7th floor and above and wait it out. The hotels are designed to survive a Tsunami though the damage to the lower floors would be significant. That's really helped out with the traffic issues in Honolulu.
Their are still major issues with the Waianae Coast on the wast side of
Oahu. The mountains back up a thin strip of near sea level land that is almost totally residential. Only one road in or out and it's basically just a street. Haven't been out there for ages but think it's only two lanes till you are out of the area. 30,000, probably more, people basically trapped as the road barely handles commuter traffic. Reports were an hour or more to move a block or two.
Guess it's the
price that we pay for mid 80s temps and sunny skies year around.
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions