A 6.5-foot tsunami is expected to reach Kauai at 3:07 a.m. today after it passed Midway Island at a height of 8.2 feet, according to the National Weather Service.
The tsunami that was generated from an 8.9-magnitude quake in Japan is expected to strike Oahu at 3:14 a.m.
The weather service reminded people that there will be a series of waves and the first wave may not be the biggest.
People on Oahu will be barred from entering tsunami inundation zones after 2 a.m. this morning, Mayor Peter Carlisle said.
He implored people to stop shopping and waiting in long lines to fill up their vehicles with gas.
"We want them to get out and get safe now," Carlisle said.
Coastal gauges at Wake Island and Saipan showed arriving wave heights of about 1.6 feet and 2.5 feet respectively, said Pacific Tsunami Warning Center geophysicist Gerard Fryer.
For Hawaii, that means, so far, "it looks like the largest waves, in Haleiwa and Hilo, will be about 2 meters (more than 6 feet)," Fryer said.
Fryer said scientists are actually analyzing two models — one that shows waves of up to 2 meters and one showing half of that.
Hawaii Civil Defense officials are advising all residents in tsunami inundation zones to evacuate immediately and Honolulu police officers were ordered out of tsunami inundation zones at 12:18 a.m.
According to recent estimates, about 30,000 residents live in the coastal inundation zone, said John Cummings, a spokesman for city Department of Emergency Management.
Early this morning police officers reported that some people were refusing to leave and officers were instructed to warn residents of the dangers.
Civil Defense alarms sounded periodically throughout the night, beginning just before 10 p.m.
A tsunami warning was issued at 9:30 p.m. for Hawaii as a result of a 8.9-magnitude earthquake near the east coast of Honshu, Japan. The earthquake and resulting tsunami killed at least 32 people in Japan.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami watch at 7:56 p.m. after the quake struck 231 miles northeast of Tokyo.
oh no another quake....ohhhh all those people and animals in Japan, Hawai'i ....
for map and info.
