Wow. 8.9 earthquake hit Japan; Hawaii under tsunami WARNING...it could be BIG.

The live video feeds are crazy -- saw a what was a wave over 20' high coming in; a report has suggested there was a 30' wave.  There are people trying to drive away as a wall of water and massive debris pushed in, reaching easily a half mile inland on mostly agricultural land.  4 million people without power, fires in Tokyo, but mostly around areas where the giant waves poured in. Massive freighter ships are turned on their sides?!?

Earlier, Hawaii was issued a tsunami watch, but now it's been updated to a warning, so a wave is expected at about 3:00 am Hawaiian time.  According to an updated article from the Star-Advertiser: "Warning center geophysicist Victor Sardina, however, predicted that 12- to 14-foot waves could hit Haleiwa and Hilo."

The national weather service (not NOAA/Pacific Tsunami Warning Center) has just issued a tsunami watch for parts of Portland Oregon for 1:30 pm Friday...it's just a matter of time before the PTWC issues a watch, it seems.

If you use Google Earth, search:  148.7E, 38.7N -- this buoy was measured at 3.5' high above sea level, which is not the crest to trough, so if you're at the bottom of the trough, it is going to be a lot higher.

What about Kiribati? They're going to disappear, man.

[updated] Honolulu has opened its emergency operations center, preparing for the tsunami. Want to watch the live feed? Hawaii News Now is covering this streaming online here. The most current information suggests at least 6.5' wave. When they changed to a warning from a watch, sirens went off, and mandatory evacuations are now in effect in all inundation zones. The entire area of Waikiki is covered by the inundation zone; instead of moving to higher land, what they do is go up several floors -- the buildings are concrete if you're wondering. They are expecting a wrap-around event, so it won't matter if you're eastward or westward, south or north, ALL coastal sections are being evacuated.

[update 2] Warning now from Oregon's northern coastal border down through California. People are streaming out of Waikiki in their cars, gas stations and grocery stores are packed. Sirens in some areas didn't go off in Hawaii, but they were supposed to. They're planning to fix them and fire the sirens again.

[update 3] Airports in Hawaii are being shut down and evacuated. You can imagine Honolulu's reef runway is exposed, and so is Lihue on Kauai as well as Hilo on the Big Island. If you want to watch NHK World's live feed (English) you can find it here.

[update 4] At 11:30 pm and 12:30 am Hawaiian time, they're expecting to get more information from buoys at Wake and Midway Islands.

[update 5]Navy's fleet at Pearl Harbor is staying put. Roads are beginning to empty out in Waikiki along the beach, and police are starting to close down streets. Areas of Hokkaido are seeing flooding from the tsunami, over 300 miles from Sendai, the main area affected. All over Japan, most train service is suspended. In Sendai, Japan, the ocean flooded Sendai Airport, going in at least two miles.

[update 6]Wake Island buoy - 166.6E, 19.3N - showed 1.3ft amplitude (above sea level, not wave height from crest to trough). Saipan - 145.7E, 15.2N - was 2.1ft. Via the Star-Advertiser, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center believes this means that a wave between 3 and 6 feet is still headed towards Hawaii.

[update 7]More on that Wake Island buoy -- apparently the front side was 1.5' high, the back side was 4' down.  Midway (177.4W, 28.2N) - and this is huge - 2.5 meters high (over 8 feet) -- confirming the direction of the energy towards Hawaii.  Streets are quickly emptying out of parked cars, drivers and pedestrians in Waikiki and elsewhere.  According to NHK World, the Fukushima #1 nuclear plant's diesel backup engines running the cooling plant has failed, while Fukushima #2 is on backup; no nuclear leak yet.  According to Reuters, the biggest wave in Japan was 10 meters, or about 32 feet.

[update 8]There are no more buoys left; just the 1100 miles between Midway and Kauai.  It's just the quiet, long wait for Hawaii.  The period of the waves hitting Midway was 80 minutes; people are going to be fooled into believing that the tsunami danger is over.  Police are sweeping the beaches to get the homeless people out.  They're streaming video from Hawaii, on Portland TV stations in what's probably a continuous news reporting through the morning.

[update 9]Roads in the inundation zones have been cleared out in Hawaii, with about 30 minutes before the first wave arrives in Kauai.  The Hawaii Weather Service (NOAA/PTWC) issued a final prediction:

• Haleiwa (North Shore) 6.5 feet;
• Hilo Bay 6.2 feet;
• Kahalui 4.5 feet;
• Honolulu Harbor 3 feet.

[update 10]A 3 km evacuation zone has been announced, per NHK World, around Fukushima #1 plant.  So far, well over 100 people have died.

[update 11] It continues to shake in Japan.  Hundreds are now reportedly dead.