Tsunami Siren clip below:

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

 It was a week ago and I was sitting at work, thinking

about my trip ahead.. We were going to Hawaii, I had never been before, but I was excited. Something crossed my mind, what if, something crazy hit?

It wouldn’t  surprise me at all, crazyness seems to follow me where ever I rome. I shoved the thought out of my mind and started hitting numbers again. When we were on the plane from Sanfran to Hawaii, the thought recrossed my mind. A bit more insistant this time. As these thoughts always come, I don’t really know what to make of them. Is it priminition? Because it happens so often, I don’t think so, but, now, you  can’t be so sure. Yesterday I was taking a knap and it was between 2, and 2 30. My phone squawked with an emergency alert. So did the other 3 phones, scattered across the house. I wasn’t quite sleeping, but I was close enough, my mind jirked, I grabbed my phone to hit the volume down

button to silence the screach. I read the alert. It mentioned a tsunami. A what?  I have never lived on the water, so, I didn’t really know how serious the event was , but I got up anyway. I said something to my wife Robin,

and she confirmed that she had received the same alert. We walked out on the patio, no wind, no rain, but the wave, wasn’t expected to hit until just after 7, so, we’re ok? Just then a tsunami siren sounded. I am used to tornado sirens, which mean, get to shelter, but, where do we go? My dad and his wife have been to Hawaii several times a year, so, naturally I went back in and asked him, dad, have you ever experienced this before? He said no. Dad went and opened the patio door again, and said, Drew, come over here and listen to this? apparently it was an announcement blasting over a loud speaker. I was to late, and didn’t catch it. We are staying at a condo, world Mark by Windom, so, I said, dad how about you call down to the office and see what they have to say? He did and the clerk told him, well, uh, you guys might want to leave, but they didn’t sound to forceful, but they did say, that the island was being evacuated, and, to get to higher ground. Alarm bells went off in my head, just as a second siren rang out. Evacuate? Thank God they rented a car. Thank God we are

all together, what would Robin and I do if we were by ourselves? I went into

the bedroom and started packing a few things into my suitcase, just the day before, I had emptied it all into the dressor. My heart started pounding and I really didn’t know what to think. I threw some underware in, a few shirts, grabbed my backpack, I had my Mac, grabbed my power bank, usb c cables. My guitar? no, I don’t want to have to cary that. It was the first time in my life that I

was ever in a situation that my stuff could just, disapeer. I had purchased a

ucalalee, do I want to take it? No I don’t want to cary it. If I have to walk,

I want to take, only what I can cary. Ok, suitcase and backpack. I was ready. Every one was packing. We need to leave, the alarm bells still sounding, let me take a piss. Drew pack this towell… Pack this blanket… I have to zippers on my suitcase, I couldn’t get it open, just kept going to the expander. I started freaking out. I felt like I was a kid when I  was lost, every thing started closing in around me. Com down Drew. Just com down. I didn’t take the towell or the

blanket. We all walked out side. Turn right, turn left, then at the elevator. We were

at the car. Dad packed every thing in the back and sat their in the parking

lot. The parking lot  itself was grid locked too. Apparently, someone was sitting their, and not driving. Why? the question was asked… Why aren’t they moving? Finally

dad pulled around the sitting duck, up a few feet, and we stopped. We just sat their,

which way to go? To the left, was paralel to the ocean, so, not getting away from it. To the right? may be higher ground. The interesting thing was , their was no announcements, no

police guiding traffic. We Googled, we siri’d, we tuned in local radio, and a

website was given for emergency info. I went their, and didn’t find anything

of promise. Ok, get to higher ground, the people in the office said to go to a

school up the hill, we sat their, no one was moving. Finally, as we creaped along, we saw the school, no one was their, it was closed, only to find out the next day, the parking lot was the evacuation point. We finally found a turn, that got us

to a road that drove a bit quicker. We had also heard that their was a new

housing development up the way. Dad had asked what the elevation was? I asked Siri, and found out how many feet above see level we were, 200 something feet. We continued, up hills, 300 feet. We finally got to the housing development and pulled off onto some gravel, 400 plus feet above sea level. Their was a large brick wall to the right of the car, the view spanned over the ocean, we could see when the big wave hit, at least that was the hope, right?. It, by that point was about 5 o’clock. We had 2 hours. At least we were above the ocean. My brother has been in the special forces, he got on the line and started researching. How far are you inland? He found out, about a mile and a half. The wave was expected, to come 4 miles in, but, because we were so far up we hoped to be safe. All of this was taking place

because an earthquake, in Russia. In the 1940’s, the last major Tsunami had hit hawaii, the earthquake then? was a 9 point 0 megnitude. The earthquake that hat hit Russia, was an 8 point 8, we expected that our condo would be wiped out, it was just a block from the ocean. Now, it was just a waiting game, sirens going off every hour, a lot softer than they were right by the ocean. It was a tence,long wait, a wierd expectation, what, was going to happen? Dad got his GWeb radio, station out, the music commed my nurves. Locals came to the new build site to watch, their was 20 or so crouding around, that made me a bit nervous. At least we had a porti potty, as it was a construction site. I didn’t bring any beer, which I should have, just some water, no food either. Finally, 7 10. 7 15. Nothing. My brother was watching a live feed of the ocean from

his home in Saint Lewis. stillNothing. It was a Youtube feed, at first their was 1000 viewers, then 5 thousand. then more. The camera was purched on a hotel roof top, you could see the now empty pool, and beyond a view of the ocean. Nothing Time passed, no wave. It got dark, we got back in the car. We waited, called emergency lines, the NOA weather line. No updates. cars began to leave, we were the only one left at the new build. It was 8. Should we go back? To me,

it was a gamble. We hadn’t received the all clear. My brother called, still nothing on the cam, it looks good, he said, you could wait an hour if you wanted, but you may be safe to go now. You can wait until 9, it’s your call.. At about 8 45 we pulled out, dad pulling up the GPS directions to the resort. We got home about 9, got all the suit cases out, went in. made a quick dinner, had a beer. Was it over? would I wake up to screaming alerts and sirens? Would I sleep? I had to.  I went to bed. Every thing was com. The next day, Wednesday, at around 9, in the morning, we received another emergency alert. Every thing was clear. Just watch out, the alert stated. Well, that’s something I will never forget. For sure!  one of the craziest time’s in my life yet.