• Tsunami, heavy rain and Kaua‘i Tsunami, heavy rain and Kaua‘i World and local weather events occurring over the past weeks brought back memories of the days, weeks and years that Hurricane ‘Iniki affected Kaua‘i. While the tsunami brought a
• Tsunami, heavy rain and Kaua‘i
Tsunami, heavy rain and Kaua‘i
World and local weather events occurring over the past weeks brought back memories of the days, weeks and years that Hurricane ‘Iniki affected Kaua‘i. While the tsunami brought a tremendous loss of life compared to ‘Iniki, and much more widespread devastation, survivors of the hurricane on Kaua‘i surely looked back on their own lives and what happened to them during the hurricane, and afterwards.
The heavy rains of last weekend lacked the high winds of a hurricane, but brought flooding and overall dangerous weather conditions. Pools of rain and flooded streams forced the closure of bridges and roads, and isolated areas like Waimea Valley. Huge rocks fell alongside highways, and hard-working road crews and police patrols went out in the inclement weather to make the roads passable and safe for Kaua‘i residents and Island visitors.
With the New Year’s rain falling the weekend after the South Asia tsunami, the two events coincided in the news in Hawai‘i, with the flooding topping the front page of The Garden Island, as well as the top of the fold of a major Honolulu newspaper.
The rain was a wake-up call. The quick response on our roads was a good sign that we are better prepared for a natural disaster than we were in the days prior to ‘Iniki.
The Asian tsunami served as a warning that Kauaians – and residents of the coastlines of the entire Pacific Basin – need to know more about how to react when a tsunami threatens our shoreline.
The tsunami of 1946 and 1957 did extensive damage on Kaua‘i and on the Big Island. Images of these two “tidal waves” of the past could easily be slipped in with photos of the Asian tsunami’s arrival and aftermath to show how devastating a tsunami can be.
Today a tsunami would endanger many more lives and more property than was at risk in ’46 and ’57. Resorts and homes line our shorelines, and thousands of more people are in place along our coastline on any given day than there were decades ago.
Perhaps the best preparation is education. Education about how to respond to the threat of a tsunami, whether the alarm comes hours or minutes before the huge waves arrival. There’s a lot to learn beyond “head for the hills” and now is the time for all of us to make the effort to protect ourselves and our community against the tsunami risk.
