Maui police and fire have begun evacuation of tsunami inundation areas

WAILUKU, Maui—The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a tsunami warning effecitve for all islands as of 9:30 p.m.

County officials said that while emergency sirens sounded at 10:00 p.m., those sirens were not heard in certain parts of Maui County.

As a result, Maui Civil Defense will be sounding its sirens at 10:23 p.m.

Residents are being asked to “Prepare Now” for a tsunami which is estimated to first hit Kauai at 2:59 a.m. Waves are estimated to hit Maui at Kahului Harbor at 3:23 a.m.

Read the civil defense “disaster preparedness” section of their website by visiting http://www.scd.hawaii.gov/preparedness.html.

Maui police and fire have already begun to evacuate tsunami inundation areas. The Civil Air Patrol is flying over beach areas in order to inform those who may not be aware of the situation.

Also, two locations previously listed as County Assembly Areas are not available for residents. Those are the Wailea Drive Grass Parking Lot and the Kapalua lot above the store.

Maui Civil Defense will continue to update the situation as necessary. Check Maui County website at www.mauicounty.gov for more information or the County Facebook and/or Twitter pages.