The Inundation Zone

March 10, 2011

11:36 P.M.

So, it's all the news. We are waiting for our second tsunami in a little over a year.

Don and I were watching CSI tonight, and one of those annoying testing-of-the-Emergency Broadcast System warning buzzes interrupted what was becoming a verrrrry important plot twist. Only, it wasn't a test. They reported a Tsunami Watch. hmmm... By the time they upgraded to a warning twenty minutes later, we knew who did the deed(s) on CSI and we headed across the street to the local grocery store. Not wanting to look like we were rushing or panicking or even the slightest bit concerned, Don and I just meandered casually through the lobby with our canvas grocery bags - cool, calm, and environmentally sensitive. The parking lot was already filling up and we were joined by about half of West Maui and a few thousand worried tourists. Ice was already gone and people were getting all the water they could carry. We already have plenty of water, but since we just got a new fridge to replace the one that died, and we had to replenish all our food, water and ice was not our need. Lots of fruits, veggies, and things that looked healthy. Don can always get ice from the little market in the resort to pick up ice...and ice cream.

I would like to say that I'm not worried or a little bit scared, but that would make me a big, fat liar. We're on the 3rd floor, and we should be safe. But it is still quite unnerving - especially seeing the aerial video from Japan that shows a wide wall of water racing across the sea. The wave was longer than the camera's wide lens, and as straight as a brick wall.

12:25 a.m.

Sirens. The second that we've heard. These things wind up to a long, sustained wail that lasts for a full minute. It is literally giving me chills. They are coming once an hour now, but as it gets closer to the first wave (about 3 a.m.) they will be more frequent.

The thing that I think about now is what can be damaged or lost if the 6-foot surge does arrive: Duke's, The Gazebo Restaurant, Hula Grill. We could lose some oceanfront homes, including the bungalow that we lived in for a couple months in the fall. And our beach park church sanctuary could be damaged.

As I write this, we have only talked to Greg - John and Kyle were both presumably asleep before we knew about the upcoming excitement. Either that, or their declared affection for us has been greatly exaggerated. But Greg is our perpetual night owl, so we knew he'd be up. We had some loving and fun text chats, including him informing us that even PORTLAND was under Tsunami warning!! He assured us that he would move to higher ground....like out of the basement. We'll deal with the mainland family retroactive worries tomorrow.

12:49 a.m.

A firefighter friend has just informed us through Facebook (don'tcha love modern communication!?!?) that the water and sewer will be shut off in anticipation of the tsunami, so we are to fill our bathtubs and anything else we can with water - not for drinking as much as for sanitation (potty flushing). The pumps are shut down to prevent saltwater contamination. As they told us a year ago, better to have no water or sewer for a day or two than a few weeks as they try to clean out a damaged and contaminated system. I agree.

1:26

Siren #3 - and my husband is sleeping through it!! I'm also online chatting with a friend who is in South Maui. She and her husband are on the beach on the second floor. I'm kind of worried about them. The reports from Midway Island have an 8-foot surge - which means that essentially the ocean raises up 8 feet, not like a nice 8-foot surfable wave. So look around you. You might have 8-foot ceilings. Now imagine that sea level is now that much higher - not like high tide, but the entire power of the ocean 8 feet higher than it was moments before.

So, now I think about things that could be damaged or lost in the south: Fred's Mexican Cafe, Kealia Pond, the lifeguard tower at Charley Young Beach. There are lots of homes in low-lying, or what is called "Inundation Zones" - and yes, we are in one.

The trade winds are blowing so beautifully tonight. I hear a cat yowling. I wonder if someone told him to move to higher ground...?

2:08 a.m.

Waiting for the next siren. The first wave should be hitting Kauai in about an hour, although they're still not sure exactly the size. The reports from the buoys to those "theys" who know about these things say that it is still likely a 6-8-foot tsunami. I'm looking down at the parking lot below our unit and there are still a remarkable number of cars. Don just said "rentals". We are adjacent to a four-story parking garage for this resort, and our cars are on the third floor near our place. Normally, the uncovered spots on the top level are empty - but not tonight. There are still people trying to move their cars up there - rentals or not - and we're only an hour or so away from getting our waves! Theses are likely the same people who gripe about the long lines at department stores on December 23rd.

Waiting for this siren has me all jumpy. Don's still asleep, but he did wake up for a bit AFTER the end of the siren wound down. I feel like I'm in some kind of scary movie and my date is snoozing and I want him to protect me!!

Siren. So spooky - especially when it is in the middle of the night.

2:37 a.m.

We're getting moved up to the 4th floor or higher. Guess I can't keep blogging right now.

3:37 a.m.

We're such rebels. We opted to stay on our 3rd floor as opposed to moving up ten feet to the 4th floor. Daredevils.

The first surges have hit Kauai and O'ahu. Don't know if Maui has started seeing changes - I know that we haven't seen any in the parking lot. No, I'm not being funny. The parking lot extends along the north side of the building to just shy of the beach. We also have a flood control ditch next to us, which will be a good conduit for any surges. But nothing yet.

The scene in O'ahu has just gotten more dramatic. More ominous. The reef at the foot of Diamond Head, and one at Waikiki has been totally exposed. This is real. The waves are returning, but they're small. The surge is just coming back and forth.

4:05 a.m.

I'm in a Facebook dialogue with my sister in Minnesota. I'm sure she'll get a more accurate report from me than from the news geeks on the networks that say we are being "slammed". We are being sloshed. Not getting sloshed, mind you. Well, maybe some are. Mostly, it some very dramatic receding in between some short waves in a tall sea. They don't look like

Kahului Harbor has the largest rise in level at over 6 feet. This could decidedly do some damage, but they'll see in the light of day. They are telling us this will keep going for another couple of hours, and the biggest waves may still be out there. Egad.

At least there are no more sirens.

4:40 a.m.

Just noticed light reflecting off the water in the flood control ditch. I've never, ever seen the water that high. Can I admit that I think that it's pretty cool?

4:43 a.m.

And now the water is gone. Very cool.

5:05 a.m.

It's still going on, but it looks like the worst might be over. Might. One of the geologist tsunami expert guys said that there may be "energy trapped" in the islands, with some of the tsunami waves essentially bouncing around between islands. eeps! But it looks like damage will be moderate at most. Despite the "slamming."

There is going to be more damage done by the hyperbolic, hyperactive media. With verbage like "slamming", "barreling down", barrage of waves" it is scaring the heck out of people with plans to travel here. And it is spring break! Thanks, media, as Hawaii was beginning to grow in tourism again after a few rough years. Who needs economic health, after all?

Okay. I am getting more and more cranky. Don is sleeping in bad, now, instead of the couch. Sounds like a plan....

8:00 a.m.

What a night. But it still isn't over. Even though we have been downgraded from warning to advisory, it is extremely dangerous, but we think we'll go check it out... from a safe distance...

9:38 a.m.

We just returned from witnessing something so extraordinary. I have never seen anything like it and I am privileged to have seen it. Stunning.

We live in an oceanfront resort - if not an oceanfront unit. The beach itself is down about five feet and narrow from wall to waves. The pool is a beachfront pool, with large acrylic panels protecting sunbathers and pool dippers from the wind off the sea. The pool and spa are both the bright turquoise that come from a bright white plaster bottom, and both are surrounded by dozens of lounges that are daily filled with sizzling tourists trying to catch up on some reading, a tan, or much needed sleep - every day except today. The entire pool and spa are filled with debris and sand and mud. There is an inch of sand on the sidewalk that lies flush with the top of the lava rock beach wall, and runs along the beachside acrylic panels of the pool. The debris line is at least 25 feet in some areas. The restaurant in the resort next door already has the carpet cleaners in in hopes of feeding their guests as soon as possible.

But the thing that really stopped us in our tracks is when we realized that the tsunami event was still ongoing - and in very dramatic fashion. The waves had been hitting the sea wall moments before, but when Don and I looked out, we could see reef being exposed. Reef that is NEVER exposed. We stood and watched for a minute, and then the water began returning - slowly at first, but steadily and increasing in speed.

Juxtaposed against this power was an assortment of nimrods, knuckheads, and numbskulls who decided that taking a walk on the wide beach and then to raise the level of idiocy, play in the oncoming waves. I wouldn't have been quite so disturbed, except one dad thought it would be fun to take his ten-year-old daughter in wading with him. It was literally terrifying as we saw this man gripping his daughter by the wrist as they struggled to make it back to the still dry sand, with currents sweeping back and forth and all around. Praise God, they did. Others stood around and laughed - including mom. The workmen came to start work on the pool - two big Hawaiian boys. One could nearly read their minds as they looked at the scene with disbelief..."crazy haoles..."

The surges have stopped, I think It has been about half an hour since one came up the flood control. maybe it's done. We had been told it could be hours, simply because of the nature of the islands. Apparently, these things like to bounce and ricochet n and around and between and against all the islands. So, after 6 1/2 hours, it seems to be done.

The damage will have to be assessed over a matter of days. Maui and Hawaii Island (Big Island) have taken the hardest hit. Kahului Harbor and Waiehu Beach in Central Maui, Kihei in South Maui, and a number of places in Lahaina, including the entire first floor of Cheeseburger in Paradise. Some roads are still closed because of debris. In Kona, on the Big Island, water came onto the main road, flooding a resort hotel lobby and sweeping tables and chairs out of Bubba Gump's in Kailua Town. There are many homes in the area, so we know we still have more to hear about those.

But at the end of this day, eleven hours and eighteen minutes after the first entry, we're all still here. It's all gonna be okay.

God is still so very, very, good.