If, instead, they had walked 20 minutes inland, I shit you not, they would have been far higher elevation than any tidal wave could reach. Yeah, mountain islands, are like that.
The first widespread tsunami warning blared out from the state’s Emergency Management Agency at 2:44 p.m. to every cellphone in HawaiĘ»i, urging people to leave coastal areas, and move to higher ground or inland immediately. It said nothing about heading to tall buildings.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2025/07/traffic-tsunami-during-evacuation-offers-lessons-for-future/
Asked where police officers were stationed to direct traffic and how many were deployed, Honolulu Police Department spokesperson Alina Lee referred questions to the city and state transportation agencies. Nouchi, from the city, and spokesperson Russell Pang, from the state, said their departments don’t have that information.
I was on the island when it happened and experienced this firsthand. Luckily, I was home at the time, but many friends and family were still at work trying to get back. We first received a warning alert on our phones around 3:00 pm, but it was just a warning the actual alert didn’t come until about 4:00 pm, which is already rush hour here on Oahu. That means what’s usually a 35-minute commute easily turns into an hour or more.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the regular traffic combined with people trying to leave flood zones, what might have been a difficult situation became much worse. You made a good point about walking inland or heading up buildings for safety unfortunately, the official alerts never mentioned either option. In flash flood warnings, we’re told to seek higher ground, but the tsunami alert didn’t give any clear instructions like that.
The result was chaos: gridlocked roads everywhere, and even public transportation shut down. The concerning part is that if it had been a real tsunami, many people could still have been trapped in their cars near the shore and possibly perished. So far, no one has taken responsibility, and the only praise seems to be for the military opening base roads (which I do appreciate) but this doesn’t really help people in major gridlocked flood areas like Waikiki or Ward. Just like other things time will pass and I doubt anyone will be held responsible or any problems fixed which is sad.
thank you Shawn!
DeleteIt's VERY cool to get a 1st hand point of view on this!
Not many people have seen the traffic jam on the H2, and H3 during rush hour, I was stationed at Pearl Harbor from 91-95.
A lot's changed on the island since then, but the Ala Moana Blvd must have been a parking lot of cars that would have been damn close to the waterline, and Kalakua... and the Kam highway was right on the bay from the base to Pearl City, plus on the North shore
Just a bad place to be if a wave hit. But I don't think one ever has.
For that to happen, I think, and I'm probably wrong, that the wave would have to have originated south of Oahu.
And you make a good point... not one govt official is going to step up and take responsibility. Not when they would then likely have to find a new job
And I'm guessing, but would you agree probably half the population of Oahu is within a mile of the shore?
Absolutely, I agree with you. Most people on Oahu live close to the shore, especially in the coastal plains and urban areas. As you know, much of Oahu is made up of mountains and valleys, and because the terrain is steep and rugged, people generally avoid building on the mountains. So the majority of the population naturally settles in the flatter areas near the coast or in the valleys. There are exceptions like Waikele and Mililani which are more inland and relatively flat and some communities on the mountains like or Mililani Mauka, St Louis Heights and Hawaii Loa Ridge, Tantalus etc It’s fascinating how geography shapes where communities develop, especially on an island like this. Thanks for using your blog to shed light on topics like this!
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