Tsunami in Hilo Bay - February, 2010

Using a tape measurer a week later I determined that some of the rocks submerged in the Wailuku River were more than 6ft above sea level. If the 2 to 3ft trough that preceded many of the waves is included, the total wave heights can be assumed to have reached 8 to 9ft in the back of the Wailuku estuary.

If you can't tell in the footage, I broke the law in a thousand ways to make this film. My mom, aunt and I were the only ones we could see in the tsunami evacuation area. All of the parkland around us was created after a tsunami in 1960 leveled all of the buildings in the center of the city. I am very aware that what I did was not safe. If a 35ft wave were to have unexpectedly come in, I could have easily been killed. Even so, I live to see incredible displays of natures power like this. Much like driving a race car or parachuting from an airplane, it's a passion that inherently comes with certain risks.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• hawaii
• hilo
• tsunami
• chile
• earthquake

[KC8YOQ]

Foegive a Mid western person But that is all salt water? I never saw this on the news!

[StormChaserMax]

@KC8YOQ Yeah, its mostly salt water in the video. The first area where the bore comes up is an estuary connected to the ocean, and the second half of the film was taken in the mouth of the Wailuku river. Its brackish water to be more exact.

[KC8YOQ]

@StormChaserMax Thanks for the reply! WOW this is a baby compared to what they suffered in Japan

[StormChaserMax]

@KC8YOQ It definitely is, but this is not the same tsunami. As the title says, this video was filmed one year ago after an earthquake in Chile sent a tsunami across the Pacific. The recent earthquake in Japan brought a larger tsunami than this to many parts of the Big Island - as high as 12ft in the Kona/Captain Cook area.

[MotherSunshine]

Great coverage. I live in Hilo and never knew we had that much action. We sat on our roof and all we saw was a strip of brown water in the bay, and a little surging of water swirling around Coconut Island in the news. The news stations should've picked this up.

[StormChaserMax]

@MotherSunshine Yeah, i think most people were unaware of just how much activity there was that day. It was nothing catastrophic, but this tsunami was definitely the most significant to affect Hilo bay since 1975.

[hazbutler]

how is it that every 24 news channel had cameras all over the islands for hours and hours giving us nothing and none of them captured anything half as good as this?

[endthedisease]

You got lucky. It could have been a big one. They do happen you know.

[YudIndonesia]

omg...

[g9concept]

most people think that a tsunami is a joke. Something to come watch and enjoy. Well wrong it isnt. And believe me you will all see it some day for real.

[supperyummycandy]

haha at first i tought it was going to bbe a huge wave

[KC8YOQ]

@StormChaserMax OH I know that! I was comparing the two events!