A tsunami safety drill set for Hanalei on Monday is expected to tie up traffic for two brief periods. The drill is planned to educate students and staff at Hanalei School on how to react to the arrival of a
A tsunami safety drill set for Hanalei on Monday is expected to tie up traffic for two brief periods.
The drill is planned to educate students and staff at Hanalei School on how to react to the arrival of a locally-generated tsunami, said Hanalei School principal Nathan Aiwohi.
“We are coordinating with the Kauai Civil Defense, the Kaua‘i Police Department, the Kaua‘i Fire Dept., and our District CERT (Community Emergency Response Team),” Aiwohi said in a press release.
The drill is set for a period between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Traffic is expected to be stopped at two different times, when students leave the school and when they return.
“We expect that each road block should not last for longer than 30 minutes,” Aiwohi said. “We would like to ask the public for their support by adjusting their traveling plans and remaining calm during all of the excitement.”
Aiwohi said the elementary school students are to walk towards west along Kuhio Highway towards Waipa then head to a mauka staging area.
He said in the event of a tsunami generated in the Aleutian Islands or other area in the North Pacific school officials would have at least several hours to evacuate the school. However, in the case of a locally-generated tsunami they would have only about a half-hour to respond.
