Originally appeared on E! Online
Oprah Winfrey is doing her part to help.
After a massive July 29 earthquake off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula led to tsunami warnings throughout Hawaii—as well as California and Washington—the talk show host opened her private road, per the Maui Police, to assist in evacuation efforts.
“As soon as we heard the tsunami warnings, we contacted local law enforcement and FEMA to ensure the road was opened,” Oprah’s rep said in a July 30 statement to People. “Any reports otherwise are false.”
The Color Purple star’s team also made it clear that the road—which runs through her estate in Maui and connects the coastal area of Wailea to the uplands of Kula—would be available for residents and visitors in Maui to get to higher ground.
“Local law enforcement are currently on site helping residents through 50 cars at a time to ensure everyone’s safety,” the statement continued. “The road will remain open as long as necessary.”
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According to the National Weather Service, the 8.7-magnitute earthquake reported off the east coast of Kamchatka—one of the strongest ever recorded—threatened a tsunami that could, per a July 29 news release from Maui County, “cause damage along coastlines of all islands in the state.”
“Urgent actions should be taken,” the release continued, “to protect lives and property.”
Thankfully, by the morning of July 30, the county lifted tsunami evacuation orders and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem assured residents that worst was over.
“We have downgraded the tsunami threat that was established for Hawaii and some of the regions impacting Alaska, but we still have a warning out for the West Coast,” she told reporters in Chile, per NBC News, adding that the threat of a major tsunami has passed.
"We were fully deployed and ready to respond if necessary but grateful that we didn't have to deal with the situation that this could have been.”
Because at the time, National Tsunami Warning Center coordinator Dave Snider shared insight into how dangerous the situation could become.
“A tsunami is not just one wave,” the Alaska-based official explained to the Associated Press. “It’s a series of powerful waves over a long period of time.”
“Tsunamis cross the ocean at hundreds of miles an hour—as fast as a jet airplane—in deep water,” he continued. “But when they get close to the shore, they slow down and start to pile up.”
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