Hurricane Sandy in the East, Tsunami in Hawaii

By Jeralyn, Section Huricanes Katrina and Rita
Posted on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 07:56:00 AM EST
Tags: Hurricane Sandy, Tsunami (all tags)

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Hurricane Sandy could be the biggest storm to ever hit the United States. It could cover 800 miles and 50 to 60 million people.

A Tsunami has hit Hawaii. Evacuations are underway.

[Update 4:50 a.m.] Gerard Fryer, senior geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to reporters:

– "The tsunami is arriving right now. I can't say how big it is because it's coming in as we speak."
"Typically the first wave is not the largest. Having inconvenienced everybody by making them evacuate in the middle of the night, I was hoping it would be bigger. The following waves I am sure will be bigger."

To all our friends on the east coast, and those in in Hawaii please be safe, and let us know how you are doing.

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Hurricane Sandy in the East, Tsunami in Hawaii | 25 comments (25 topical)

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I hope that all the hype.. (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by desertswine on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 01:42:01 PM EST

is much worse than the actual storm. Keep safe all you East Coasters. The Sky is Crying.

: Hope everyone stays safe (none / 0) (#23)
by MO Blue on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 11:55:30 PM EST

The Sky is Crying done the St. Louie way.

Good news. (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by lentinel on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 02:54:07 PM EST

The Subway will be shut down.
The ferries will be shut down.
The buses will not be running.
The schools will be closed.

But take heart:

The New York Stock Exchange will be open.

The NYSE Trading Floor (none / 0) (#17)
by CoralGables on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 03:42:38 PM EST

is closed tomorrow.


: I (none / 0) (#19)
by lentinel on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 04:38:05 PM EST

guess the fellows can continue to trade from their homes in the suburbs.

Latest NYC Update (none / 0) (#3)
by CoralGables on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 10:40:34 AM EST

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered an evacuation of Zone A, which includes
Manhattan's Battery Park City
Coney Island and other Brooklyn beach communities
The Rockaways in Queens
Shore areas of Staten Island
The MTA is shutting down bus and subway service starting Sunday at 7PM.
The city is canceling school on Monday.

In addition:
Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia have declared states of emergency.

An estimated 10 million people will lose power according to Johns Hopkins engineer Seth Guikema.

Luckily I'm in Zone B! (none / 0) (#4)
by Robot Porter on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 10:51:55 AM EST

Have a few friends in Zone A. But looks like they have the situation covered, so I won't be providing anyone shelter from the storm.


When (none / 0) (#6)
by lentinel on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 11:25:47 AM EST

they tell people to "evacuate" - where are they supposed to go?

And if the subways and buses are all shut down, how can anybody get anywhere?


Prince Tuesday told them to ... (none / 0) (#7)
by Robot Porter on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 11:39:45 AM EST

stay with "friends or relatives". That's what most people will do. Generally, people in Zone A are only a few blocks from Zone B or C. So public transport isn't really needed.

There are of course shelters. His Highness mentioned those. But wasn't emphasizing it.


This is why you have civil defense. (none / 0) (#9)
by Donald from Hawaii on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 12:57:38 PM EST

Officials in Hawaii were not only able to successfully coordinate and accomplish the evacuation of several hundred thousand residents and visitors last night from low-lying tsunami inundation zones to higher ground, they did so in a matter of three hours in the face of a very real and significant potential threat.

Further, by virtue of our remote geography in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it's readily apparent that when a catastrophic natural event does strike the Hawaiian Islands, we're going to have to be self-reliant and on our own for a minimum of 48-72 hours before substative assistance can arrive from elsewhere.

Therefore, we plan accordingly and meticulously for the likelihood of such occurrences, rather than roll the dice and play the odds that such an event won't ever happen. That's why our state civil defense system is rated the best in the country.

With all due respect, residents and officials along the eastern seaboard have had at least several days' notice and warning regarding the threat posed by this particular storm.

It's unbelievable how so many always somehow manage to find themselves almost completely unprepared to cope with such events, either in real time or in the aftermath. It's almost as though the collective experience of Hurricane Katrina taught them nothing.

Good luck. Aloha.


I read that the warning was cancelled (none / 0) (#10)
by Towanda on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 01:20:19 PM EST

pretty quickly? And fears were not realized?


I (none / 0) (#13)
by lentinel on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 02:42:46 PM EST

hope so.

More often than not, it seems, this kind of emergency preparation talk coming from politicians is bluster and grandstanding - to show us how they are looking out for us and how competent they are.

But they always seem to take for granted that people have to get to work. It seems highly unlikely that people who can't get to work because the transportation system has been shut down will receive their paycheck as usual.

It's always the people who take the hit.


But it's not "bluster and ... (5.00 / 2) (#16)
by Donald from Hawaii on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 03:28:09 PM EST

... grandstanding." It's in your own best interest -- as well as that of your loved ones, should you have any immediate family living with you or nearby -- to take "this kind of emergency preparation talk" very seriously in the face of a known potential hazard.

I can assure you that the overwhelming majority of Hawaii residents consider themselves lucky, grateful and blessed that the worst-case scenarios expressed last night by our public officials, in the course of urging us to take immediate action to evacuate low-lying areas and move to higher ground, were never realized.

Further, I'm more than certain that Gov. Neil Abercrombie had far more important things on his mind last night, and was hardly considering how to elevate his public profile for his own political benefit.

Honestly, lentinel, that sort of elevated level of personal cynicism, in reaction to specific warnings as issued by your public officials, could prove potentially fatal to you and yours, should it cause you to blow off those warnings as only so much self-promoting hype.

You should always take these sorts of things very seriously. If you have concerns regarding the general conduct of your public officials in the course of their prescribed duties, the proper time to take issue with those officials is well prior to a given event or afterward, and not when an emergency situation is immediately pending.

Aloha.


: I'm (none / 0) (#18)
by lentinel on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 04:35:15 PM EST

talking about New York - especially New York City.
And I'm saying that when they shut down transportation, or tell people to evacuate - it is the people who lose a day or more of their paycheck that are the ones that get hurt. And how are you supposed to evacuate? Cars are allowed to run - but not the subways? Why are the subways still susceptible to flooding. Why, every time that it rains, do the drains not function and the streets are flooded?
I don't know what the conditions are like in the shelters, but if they are anything like what they were in New Orleans, God help us.
It's just the assumptions that are made by the pols that irk me.
The assumption that people can just find some other place to hang out while they leave their apartment and belongings behind.
And the schools are closed.
The kids are at home - and if the home is evacuated....
I don't say people shouldn't be cautious.
But I am a survivor of the 9/11 fiasco in New York City.
In a real emergency, there was absolutely no help from the government. No cell phones. No traffic lights. No police presence on the streets. Just Guiliani strutting around and making noises.
Then, the anthrax scare and the biological warfare scare. Tape up your windows they said. Great.
One must do what one must to save oneself and ones loved ones.
But I do absolutely detest government. I don't trust them for one minute. They never seem to say anything, anything, that doesn't have an agenda attached.
I hope you're OK in Hawaii.
And I hope my family is OK in NYC.

We were allowed to return home ... (none / 0) (#14)
by Donald from Hawaii on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 02:48:12 PM EST

... within four hours of our initial evacuation. It's always better to be safe than sorry, because we really don't know how the ocean will generally behave in reaction to any given and significant seismic event throughout the Pacific rim. Further, the first surges of a tsunami aren't necessarily the largest and most potentially destructive ones, and can occur over the course of hours.

The devastating tsunami that struck Hilo on the Big Island in May 1960, which was spawned by a massice earthquake off the coast of Chile, claimed the lives of 62 people in that city, then the second largest in the state after Honolulu. The community did have warning and evacuated accordingly, but after the first three surges proved to be less than one foot high, the tsunami alert was cancelled by public officials prematurely.

Then tragically, the fourth surge came crashing into Hilo Bay about 90 minutes later at 1:04 a.m. -- nearly 15 feet high and one-quarter mile wide, from its face to its back. It roared right through what was then the center of town, and most of the deaths occurred in the nearby Waiakea residential district right next to present-day Hilo Airport.


I tthink you meann (none / 0) (#24)
by Amiss on Mon Oct 29, 2012 at 01:10:42 AM EST

for Fla. It didn't come in as far down here. But it is HUGE. We were 500 miles from it and the winds were very evidennnt.


No. The entire subthread (none / 0) (#26)
by Towanda on Mon Oct 29, 2012 at 08:32:01 AM EST

is about Hawaii.


: Oops (none / 0) (#27)
by Amiss on Thu Nov 01, 2012 at 02:04:58 PM EST

"Blushes"

Jim Cantore is reporting from New York City... (none / 0) (#5)
by unitron on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 11:18:22 AM EST

...so obviously Sandy will hit elsewhere. : - )

If his record holds I'm going to try to get the city council and chamber of commerce here to get together and kidnap him and keep him here all next hurricane season.

: We may have to compete for him (none / 0) (#11)
by Towanda on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 01:24:59 PM EST

in tornado and blizzard seasons, as those are expanding here into the hurricane part of the calendar. Cantore always is a source of good humor here, when he's standing outside in awful weather . . . all alone. Everyone else is inside, warm and dry, as no one else would be so nuts as to ignore dire warnings. We also read reports that the only vehicles on the roads are from the Weather Channel.

We're all fine out here. (none / 0) (#8)
by Donald from Hawaii on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 12:23:48 PM EST

We were allowed to return to our homes at 2:00 a.m. HST. Once again, if nothing else, it's reassuring to know that our state's civil defense system is functioning at its optimal level.

That's the third major tsunami warning we've had in the last four years, and residents sre cooperative and simply do what they have to do, without making it into any more a major fuss than it already is by virtue of the event itself.

NOTE TO TOURISTS: We couldn't help but notice last night that not only did more than a few of you in Waikiki choose to ignore the official directives to move to higher ground, you actually went down to the beach itself, as though this was all being staged for your entertainment. That was both incredibly stupid and extraordinarily foolish.

We are not Disneyland, and last night was not a controlled event like some E-ticket thrill ride. We had no way of predicting what was about to happen, and had the tsunami actually rolled ashore higher than two meters, you could've become fish food.

You not only placed yourselves at unnecessary risk with your selfish actions, you potentially compromised the safety of our local police and fire department personnel, by putting them in harm's way when they had to return to an already evacuated area to hustle you out of there, and in some instances even arrest you for your own good.

Please, don't check your common sense and good judgment at the hotel lobby front desk when you come to visit.

: Seriously? (none / 0) (#21)
by sj on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 05:28:00 PM EST

Some tourists were hanging out on the beach? Apparently there is no end to the stupid.

: I'm glad it was tamer than it could have been (none / 0) (#22)
by Militarytracy on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 06:58:49 PM EST

: I hear ya! (none / 0) (#25)
by Amiss on Mon Oct 29, 2012 at 01:20:10 AM EST

We had bad rip currrents Andre all the idiots wind surfing and. Using kites to wake board as well.

right now in boston (none / 0) (#20)
by CST on Sun Oct 28, 2012 at 05:19:12 PM EST

We are looking at what I consider a best case scenario. No real damage, classes are canceled.

My sister is whining, "we always miss the good stuff"