00:00This morning, tsunami waves hitting the west coast of the U.S. after one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded.
00:06We're trying to see the developments here stemming from this initial quake.
00:10The massive 8.8 magnitude quake struck off Russia's coast, shaking cliffs.
00:15The shocks felt inside homes and hospitals, hitting this one during an operation.
00:20Its impact causing small tsunami waves and evacuations in Japan, where people were sheltering on rooftops.
00:27And now parts of the United States feeling the impact.
00:30On the west coast, residents bracing.
00:32Piers closing up in California amid tsunami advisories.
00:36Water surging in Hawaii, reaching buildings after waves and strong winds struck overnight.
00:42Tsunami advisories and evacuation warnings spreading throughout the islands.
00:46Flights diverted and passengers stranded in airports.
00:49Residents sheltering inside and some racing to safer ground, causing massive traffic jams.
00:55Hawaii's governor urging people to proceed with caution in coastal zones.
00:59Just be a little safe for a little longer.
01:02Keep our fingers crossed that we don't suffer a big tsunami.
01:04Madison Wade, a reporter at NBC's Seattle affiliate, says she arrived at Waikiki just hours before the tsunami warnings.
01:11They went over at the intercom and told all of us to evacuate to higher ground, which means the fourth floor or above, and stay in our rooms.
01:20So they don't want anyone in the lobby right now.
01:22Experts now warn against standing down too soon.
01:26When you've got a big one, the biggest wave can come later.
01:29And back here on the west coast, while we've certainly not seen the brunt of these tsunami waves,
01:34officials making sure to say that they are not out of the woods just yet.
01:37The National Weather Service in the Bay Area, Savannah, saying that these can still create dangerous conditions.
01:44They're seeing tidal shifts of two to two and a half feet, and that can create dangerous currents up and down the coast here.
01:50Yeah, it's a tense night there.
01:52All right, Morgan, thank you very much.
01:54Let's bring in Al now, who's going to sort of show us how all of this started.
01:57That's right.
01:58So here we go.
01:59You can get a sense right off the Russian coast, 724 p.m. Eastern time.
02:03This thing was 13 miles deep.
02:06I mean, that is massive.
02:07You combine that with the magnitude 8.8.
02:09This is probably going to end up being a top 10 strongest earthquake ever since they've been recording this.
02:17So we've got really some sort of sense of how big this is now.
02:21So here's the earthquake epicenter.
02:23Now, a tsunami travels across the ocean at about 500 miles per hour.
02:28The distance to Hawaii, that's about 3,000 miles, six hours.
02:32Distance all the way to the west coast, 4,000 miles.
02:35That would take about eight hours.
02:36So that's why we've already started to see some of this in the Hawaiian Islands, where the tsunami advisories were.
02:43Highest waves right now, we're talking about Halauea at four feet.
02:48Kahui, 5.7 feet on the island of Maui.
02:52You can see that the wave heights got up to 5.7, but you can see this undulation that's been happening since then.
03:00So the water levels dropped below three and a half feet and then rose nine feet in just minutes.
03:06So that's a heck of a wave that is happening.
03:08And then along the west coast, we're looking at from all the way from Seattle all the way down into San Diego.
03:14We've got tsunami advisories.
03:15There have been some waves, Crescent City about three and a half feet, Port St. Louis about 1.3, Santa Monica about a half foot wave.
03:24So we're not, again, out of the woods yet, but we are going to be watching this over the next several hours because people still, and there can be aftershocks as well.
03:33So we have to really keep an eye on it.
03:34That was a helpful explainer there, buddy.
03:36No problem.
03:36Hey, thanks for watching.
03:37And don't forget, you can catch the Today Show every morning on NBC or take Today when you're on the go.
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