DES MOINES, Iowa — Many people took a big sigh of relief Wednesday as the potential tsunami through the Pacific was not as destructive as scientists feared.
The tsunami warning and evacuation order in Hawaii was made after an 8.8 earthquake rumbled the far east side of Russia. Japan and the U.S. West Coast were also bracing for impact.
Thankfully, little damage was done. Waves stayed under five feet in Hawaii and the tsunami warning was lifted Wednesday morning.
It was a stressful night for many on the islands, though, and that included some Iowans visiting.
West Des Moines Mayor Russ Trimble posted on Facebook that he is in Hawaii this week. He wrote, “Eerie feeling as we await the tsunami.” He also said he had to eat packed snacks because everything was closed down, including restaurants.
WHO 13 former meteorologist and contributor Metinka Slater is also there on vacation with her family on the southwest coast of O’ahu. They arrived Tuesday afternoon and when they were trying to check in to their resort, everyone’s phones went off with the emergency tones. They had to shelter in place.
“I mean, we’re from Iowa, right? This is never a thing we warned for during all my years of TV,” Slater said. “When they started locking the doors here at the resort and they shut down the restaurant, we’re like, okay. So, we just stayed in our room. They had tons of boats out on the ocean. I don’t know if they were part of the Coast Guard boats or something. And then they had helicopters, and they had closed the airport.”
Slater said the bottom two floors of her resort were evacuated to higher floors.
While they waited it out in their hotel room, they watched the ocean and the local news.
“It was an out-of-body experience, like you are in this beautiful tropical location and things are once in a lifetime. So we’ll definitely never forget this vacation,” she said. “It was very exciting, and we didn’t really see any impact here. I haven’t heard of any impact this morning and everything is looking beautiful, quiet and perfect here.”
Slater has spent many years at a meteorologist in Iowa, so she’s covered a lot of different weather, but never a tsunami. She dove into researching them further from her room as the warnings came in.
“As a scientist, I really appreciated that. But as a mom, and just someone who was on vacation, it was a little nerve-wracking because we’ve never been here before,” Slater said. “It was kind of scary and eerie.”
Slater said her family is excited to finally get out and explore Hawaii now, but they won’t be getting in the water quite yet. There is still an advisory, and the water may have some strong rip currents and strange waves.
“I’m so thankful that nothing bad happening,” she said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to who13.com.
Comments