It's horrible. We have friends on Maui who are right on the beach. Haven't heard from them. I imagine cell traffic is horrendous with people trying to call out as well as in.
The destruction in Japan is horrendous, and Hawaii may get hit with battering waves, but I think they are overdoing the US West Coast warnings. I heard the news this morning that said San Francisco, where my son lives, is expecting 3 foot waves. I wouldn't call that a "tsunami". I wish they wouldn't scare the Hell out of us.
I have a young friend who just recently went to Japan to teach children English (She's Japanese. I just heard from her on Facebook and she's fine. She's in the western part of Japan.
I know a young couple from Japan and our DD goes to school with a young girl from there, her parents are still over there. My niece lives in Hawaii, I think on the big island. My worries are world wide this morning. I started to think about the AZ spouses over in Japan. So sad on so many levels. My heart goes out to all the families who are hurting this morning.
I'm on the West Coast, ol don, about 2 blocks from the ocean. All the beaches are closed, piers, etc, and we have a deep port Naval base that is closed as well. Although we are under a tsunami warning, it's not the height of the waves that we worry about, it's the currents associated with it. They are extremely treacherous, thus the closings.
Brookings and Crescent City had damage but nearly not as bad as it would have been if it had been high tide. The fact it was low tide minimized the damage to the marinas.
I am on the Central Coast..Pismo area. The news last night was that our area suffered nothing other than high surf. Some in Pismo, Oceano, and Grover Beach, part of what is called the 5 Cities area, were evacuated. By about 4 the warnings were called off. WE have seen surf like that during bad storms. Looking from my window out toward the ocean, it is actually a southern view if you look at how the coast actually runs. Those directly facing west would have more risks I would think. Also in some areas along this coastline, it is not the height of the waves that may pose dangers but the currents which can be really vicious. When people are told to stay out of the waters for whatever reason is given, people should listen. It could be that tourists who are not familiar with the might of the seas take it too lightly and disregard the warnings and go to " just take a peek" then find themselves in deep trouble or worse and then rescue people are put at risk to find them and save them from themselves. I did hear that in Santa Barbara late last night there were still warnings in effect. From what we saw on the news the worst of the west coast effects might be found in South America and maybe parts of Mexico but I have not heard much on our news to that effect. There was just some news that the coasts is declared a disaster zone.. WE may find there is more damage than originally thought in terms of erosion. The poor fool who lost his life up in the northern area should have heeded the warning and stayed away from the shore when warnings were issues. He has himself to blame and no one else.
I have a niece in Maui, far as I know, she's OK. I live in Los Angeles 2 miles from the ocean, btwn Santa Monica & Redondo Beach, our beach faces almost directly west, but the coast curves around and beaches face every which way, Los Angeles is in a basin of sorts. I drove down to see and the surf looked rougher than it normally is, but if I did not know there was a tsnumani warning, I'd have just thought 'it looks a little rougher than usual.' PCH, the Pacific Coast Hiway that is often seen, runs well above the ocean in some places or level with the ocean in other places and homes could flood, but there are also lots of pallisades, especially in Santa Monica, anything seen so far would not likely come up the palisades and reach most homes. There were a handful of people on the beach, but no one in the water. There can be a riptide effect at any time anyway. We also have a large marina and it could go like the one in Crescent City if it came here. It seems that it was mostly to the north and south of Los Angeles, I heard warnings for Orange County to the south toward Mexico, but nothing happened here, altho the surf got rougher as I drove south. Of course we have our earthquakes, but since the big Long Beach one in the 30's, the building technology has changed and hopefully codes are followed and the newer bldgs have withstood recent quakes. What a tragedy for so many, just tragic.