Tsunami reaches California, Hawaii and Japan after 8.8-magnitude earthquake triggers evacuations: Live updates – UK Times

Today’s earthquake and tsunami warnings have triggered evacuations across the Pacific, including in Japan.

More than 2 million people were told to evacuate as waves hit much of the northern and eastern coasts.

The warnings in parts of the country were later downgraded to advisories, but some remained in Hokkaido and Tohoku.

Russia has recently lifted several tsunami alerts.

Alerts and warnings were cancelled in Severo-Kurilk, Sakhalin and Kamchatka.

A wave of 3.6ft was observed at Crescent City as the tsunami reached California in the early hours of Wednesday morning local time.

Here’s what to know if you are travelling in or out of the west coast of the US as the tsunami hits the shoreline.

Tsunami waves are continuing to hit the coast of California, authorities have said.

The Bay Area weather service said tidal swings of 2 to 2.5 ft have been spotted in the San Francisco area.

It said: “This can create some seriously dangerous currents along beaches and harbors. It’s just a good idea to stay away from the water today!”

Authorities in French Polynesia warned some residents to expect tsunami waves up to 4 metres high in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

They said the waves would reach several of the Marquesas Islands including Ua Huka, Nuku Hiva and Hiva Oa at 00:57am local time (10:27am GMT).

Other islands in the Marquesas are expected to experience wave heights between 0.60 m and 0.90 m, the local government said.

If you are only just joining us, here is a summary of what has happened so far:

– An 8.8 magnitude earthquake, believed to be one of the strongest on record, hit eastern Russia.

– The tremor triggered tsunami warnings and evacuation orders across the Pacific, including in Russia, Japan, Hawaii and the US west coast.

– The biggest wave so far reached 16ft in the coastal areas of the disputed Kuril Islands shortly after the earthquake.

– Some time later, smaller waves began to reach Hawaii, California and Japan.

– Hawaii has since removed evacuation orders as the state and Japan downgraded warnings to advisories.

The Independent’s Bryony Gooch reports:

Professor Ilan Kelman from UCL’s department of Risk and Disaster Reduction has warned that the first tsunami wave is not usually the worst.

“We’ve had situations where it’s like, oh yeah, there’s a tsunami warning, a tsunami comes in and people say, ‘Oh, that wasn’t too bad. Let me go back down to the sea’, but then the second and the third waves are usually the worst.

“In the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the second and third waves were by far the most destructive and caused most deaths, and some people were caught out by saying, ‘oh, that was a tsunami? that was nothing’, and then the other waves come in and cause the problems.”

Some more waves have been recorded in California as tsunami warnings remains in place on the US west coast.

A wave of 3.6ft was observed at Crescent City, according to the US National Weather Service.