So there was this Tsunami thing . . . .

Our Tsunami Saturday began in the wee hours of the morning - just like everyone else.
Knowing David was out of town, my friend Tara pondered long and hard about calling me in the middle of the night to let me know there was a tsunami coming.
"You know we've been through a tsunami advisory before, right?" I mumbled.

"Yes, but I think this one's a little more serious." she countered.

Knowing that she is the least dramatic person in the world - I decided to wake up and pay attention.
The tv went on and the laptop came out.

By that time I knew that a tsunami was headed across the Pacific; that an official tsunami warning had been issued for Hawaii; that coastal evacuations would begin at 6 AM; and that the tsunami was projected to reach Hilo minutes after 11AM on Feb. 27.
So now what? . . . .what do you do when you know that in 8 hours things will go either really smoothly or really bad!

Remembering that a friend had arrived for vacation on island just hours before, I sent her a text trying to give her a heads up for what was about to come. (Those sirens can really give you a jolt!)
Thinking I could get an hour or two of sleep before things got ugly, I started to drift off. . . . .

And then the phone really got going. Phone calls and texts from family, friends, and church. Neighbors who knew Dave was out of town came over to make sure I was awake.
Promptly at 6 AM -- right on schedule -- the civil defense sirens around the island began to wail their warning. Those unmistakable sirens warbled again, each hour on the hour.  The "Giant Voice" announced tsunami warnings and evacuations throughout the base.

Coastal evacuees traveled up to Tripler, Pali and Tantalus; Navy ships from Pearl Harbor headed out to sea to wait in open water; Members from our ward headed up to the church building near Camp Smith.
In the meantime we kept the tv on, made a run to the commissary and gas station, filled anything fillable with water (thanks to years of typhoon training) and kept our phone calls to Tara regular (her husband happened to be out of town too).

Throughout all this, I never felt the "panic" many of the national news channels were reporting.
In fact - I had a nice little chat with the gas attendant; an older lady, wiping down the gas pumps with her cleaning rag and Windex. She reminded me that at 10 AM roads along the coast, as well as those that lead into and out of the inundation zones would be closed.

We sat tight at our house, while the neighbors across the street had been evacuated hours earlier.
At 10:30 AM the final warning siren sounded. I have to admit, it was a bit nerve-wracking. My brother Tyler's texts were a good distraction - "Is there any danger? If not take some video!" "Anything Yet?" My reply at 11:43 AM "It's as if Molly knows something . . . She just went crazy!" 12:05 PM: my final text back to him from our incredibly long morning "From what the NOAA guys are saying this IS the tsunami. It seems Molly was the only one that noticed I guess."
We survived yet another exercise in Mother Nature's Weather Phenomenons!