Americans living along the Pacific coast have been told to move to higher ground after a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Russia‘s Kamchatka Peninsula triggered tsunami alerts across Hawaii, Alaska and the West Coast.
Evacuation orders were issued for low-lying areas of Hawaii overnight, with sirens blaring across parts of Oahu and residents seen scrambling to pack bags and flee inland.
Many residents raced for higher ground to stay safe as the first tsunami waves hit Hawaii on Wednesday morning. The rush has triggered huge traffic jams stretching many miles.
In Alaska, emergency management officials warned that powerful waves could strike within hours, urging coastal communities to stay alert.
In California, Oregon and Washington, beachgoers were told to stay out of the water as tsunami watches stretched across thousands of miles of coastline.
Some residents rushed to buy fuel, food and bottled water, fearing a repeat of previous disasters.
Others remained unfazed, with videos circulating online of people refusing to leave their homes or gathering to watch the waves roll in.
In one TikTok video, a user shares her panic as sirens blare in the background. With a worried look on her face, Shelbykblackburn says: ‘I’m shaking right now. A warning has officially gone off.
The rush for safety has triggered huge traffic jams stretching many miles in Hawaii
Many residents scrambled for higher ground to stay safe as the first tsunami waves hit Hawaii on Wednesday morning
In one TikTok video, a user shares her panic as sirens blare in the background. With a worried look on her face she describes how she’s shaking with fear
In a follow-up clip, Shelbykblackburn films herself with huge skyscrapers in the background with cheers heard in the background
‘We just got a notification that there’s a tsunami threat. The boats – looks like they’re turning around and coming back in.
‘There are a lot of people out on their background looking and running upstairs. This just got really scary.’
Another user, Holistic Alexandra, appears close to tears and captions her video: ‘Guys, they just turned on the tsunami alarms, and I got another alert on my phone and they said there’s going to be a direct hit to Hanalei in Kauai.’
In a follow-up clip, Shelbykblackburn films herself with huge skyscrapers in the background. Cheers can be heard echoing from nearby buildings.
She says: ‘Everybody is cheering and screaming. I don’t know if that means it’s about to hit, if they see something, but I don’t see anything.
‘Maybe it’s just kind of like a we are all in this together situation. There’re cell phones flashing.’
In a separate video, a man on a balcony joins in the cheers, seemingly unconcerned about the looming threat.
He is one of many who appear unbothered by the danger.
Another user, Holistic Alexandra, appears close to tears as she describes the warning messages she’s received on her phone
The man smiles into the camera and says he is going towards the tsunami to go fishing and swimming
The TikToker shows a man jumping into the ocean amid the tsunami warning
A man is seen surfing in the ocean despite the warnings for people to stay out of the water
On TikTok, a man using the name Go_BigorGo_HomeTyler is seen smiling on a boat.
He tells the camera: ‘Honestly, I knew I was crazy. My family knows I’m crazy, but I’m on some next-level s*** I never actually thought I’d be doing.
‘After our tsunami warning that I just posted about over on Big Island, that should be hitting us in two hours, I’m currently driving towards it on a boat. Going straight at it. Straight at the girl.’
He adds: ‘We’re gonna go surf that wave. I always joked about it, and now, the law of attraction. It’s real. It’s so funny.’
He also says he plans to go fishing while at sea, and also shows a man casually jumping into the ocean before promising viewers updates from his expedition.
In a second video, he shows off a sunset from the water. ‘So guys, here’s the sunset before the storm. Absolutely beautiful. We are exactly 15 to 20 minutes from the first wave,’ he says.
Over on X, formerly Twitter, one user filmed a man surfing in the ocean despite the warnings.
The surfer can be seen calmly lying on his board as he paddles out into the waves.
Elsewhere, groups of people gathered for a ‘tsunami watch party’ from what they claimed was a safe distance.
Groups of people have gathered for tsunami watch parties, waiting to see the first waves hit
Although people living in coastal areas have been warned to leave, some have still remained
Videos show them filming the horizon and waiting for the first waves to hit, with some bringing sweets and snacks to mark the occasion.
Another TikTok user, posting under the name firstgenamericanyt, filmed himself still in the water after officials urged people to stay away.
‘The waves are definitely getting bigger than they were a few minutes ago,’ he says.
‘You can look it up. It’s super legit. I pray it doesn’t happen. Oh my God.’
Officials across the U.S. are urging residents in coastal areas to take the tsunami threat seriously and follow evacuation orders immediately.
The warning comes as many recall the catastrophic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, triggered by a 9.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Indonesia.
The disaster killed more than 230,000 people across 14 countries, with waves reaching up to 100 feet high and entire towns swept away in minutes.
That tsunami struck with little warning, catching holidaymakers and locals off guard as waves tore through coastlines in Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India.
Officials across the U.S. are urging residents in coastal areas to take the tsunami threat seriously and follow evacuation orders
Some residents were seen stocking up on essentials after the government issued its warnings
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