HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – At around 7:20 p.m., around the time of the estimated arrival of the first tsunami wave in Hawaii, water could be seen gradually receding in Hanalei Bay and at Haleiwa Boat Harbor on Oahu’s North Shore.

Water was also visibly ebbing and flowing in Hilo Bay on Hawaii Island throughout the evening, and the parking lot across Coconut Island was flooded.

At 7:30 p.m., Chip McCreery, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center director, said water levels were dropping to a below-normal sea level, and it could be awhile before an all-clear is given.

“We’re always hopeful it won’t be too bad, but anticipating from our models that yes, we are going to have a significant tsunami going across our islands and arriving on all the coasts,” McCreery said.

McCreery said scientists were waiting to see how big the tsunami waves get across the state.

“The wave pattern gets very complicated as the wave crosses the state because those tsunami waves reflect off of islands, and they wrap around islands, and they interact with each other, so at every location, it can be a different wave,” McCreery said.

“We’ve got a ways to go. It’s probably going to be several hours before we may even be able to lower the warning here in Hawaii to advisory level when waves go down, and probably not at least until tomorrow morning before we’re able to completely cancel the warning,” he said.

At around 7:20 p.m., around the time of the estimated arrival of the first tsunami wave in Hawaii, water could be seen gradually receding in Hanalei Bay.

Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.