Greg and Karen Butcher expected to show their children some history at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
But being part of a tsunami advisory and major evacuation was not on their itinerary. Now, July 29 will be quite a day in the Butcher family history.
On the last full day of their Hawaiian vacation, the Butchers and their children, Alex, 15, Rex, 11, and Samantha, 8, took a shuttle bus from Pearl Harbor to the Battleship Missouri Memorial, which is on Ford Island. The Missouri was a key Pacific battleship during World War II and was the spot at which Japan signed documents surrendering to the United States and ending World War II in September 1945.
Greg Butcher said they were aware of the weather and tsunami watches after hearing news reports of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake recorded in the far east of Russia earlier that day.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, tsunamis are giant waves created when earthquakes or undersea volcanic eruptions occur. They build momentum and height, travel at high speeds and can devastate coastlines.
But the Butchers had been enjoying a relatively quiet visit to the battleship when sirens and alarms started going off like tornado warnings. Everyone’s cellphone began sounding emergency alerts to evacuate the coastline and move to higher ground.
“We could definitely tell it was getting to be something more,” he said.
The last buses would leave the island in 15 minutes.
Staff members were leaving in their cars and the Butchers realized the large military supply ship they had been watching leave the port was actually responding to an all-boats order to get out of the harbor.
Butcher came close to being separated as tourists loaded onto buses, but took quick action to stay together.
“I said, ‘nope, I have seen that movie a few times,’” he said.
Safely together, the family had to wait as their bus stopped at the Aviation Museum to pick up more passengers.
“That is a very eerie thing to be a part of,” Butcher said. “It was just kind of a surreal moment to be standing at Pearl Harbor. That clock was ticking pretty slowly.”
Their bus was the last off Ford Island and they quickly got to their rental car for the five-mile journey to their hotel. But that process, too, was out of the ordinary.
“Higher ground is pretty obvious,” he said. “You can definitely tell what direction you need to go.”
The five-lane highway was packed with vehicles and traffic moved so slowly it took them two hours to travel five miles.
They confirmed with their hotel in Waikiki, which said they could check in only if they arrived by 6:30 p.m. when elevators would be turned off and doors locked for safety.
They they arrived at the hotel at 6:27 p.m.
The tsunami arrived on shore at 7:10 p.m.
The Butchers were able to look out at the water from their balcony briefly before closing up the room.
Butcher is Seward’s city administrator. He knows about emergency preparedness.
He praised Hawaii’s governor and island leaders. Both through Hawaii Public Radio and the local news, they had constant communication on what was going on.
Even though the tsunami watchers were able to downgrade expectations as the waves got closer to Hawaii, people still needed to move to safer places.
“They did a really good job of telling people what was going on,” he said.
The tsunami watch was lifted the next morning, and the Butchers had a chance to return to Pearl Harbor on the 30th without interruption before catching their flight home.
“It was incredible,” Butcher said.
Everyone, especially the surfers, was back out on the shore.
“It made a good story,” Butcher said. “I think the kids will always remember it.”
They will likely remember staring at one of Hawaii’s famous rainbows that arced the sky the entire time they were driving to the hotel. Butcher said he kept telling them the rainbow was their sign things would be fine.
“It’s on their license plates and there’s a reason for that,” he said.
