>Tsunami waves hit Hawaii and California, but damage is limited (FOTO GALLERY)

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San Francisco: A tsunami emanating from the massive earthquake that hit Japan on Friday sent seven-foot waves into the Hawaiian islands, but appeared to have caused no major damage in Hawaii or along the West Coast.
Peter Carlisle, the mayor of Honolulu, said Friday that the threat had subsided substantially and that coastal highways had reopened on the island of Oahu. He said residents who had evacuated were now free to return home, though they should remain off beaches for now.
But by midmorning on a beautiful, sunny day, sunbathers and walkers had returned to Waikiki Beach, though in smaller numbers than usual. Here and there children ventured into the water, despite official warnings to stay out of the ocean.
“You kind of observe things out there,” said Dominik Ladner of Toronto, who stood on the beach while his two children ran in and out of the water. “But I’m not worried too much.”
Kyle and Connie Gilmer of Anniston, Ala., stood on a breakwater that had been shown on television being swamped by waves six hours earlier. “It crossed my mind,” Mr. Gilmer said, speaking about the tsunami.
By midday, a tsunami warning — which directs residents of low-lying regions to move inland and to higher ground — had been lifted for most of Hawaii, and people around the state were returning to homes, hotels and beaches. For the most part, damage was minor — docks and boats were damaged in several marinas. However, the Kona district of the Hawaii island sustained more serious damage, with waves submerging the pier and topping a sea wall, flooding several hotels and businesses.
A tsunami warning remained in effect along the West Coast of the United States, from central California to Alaska.
The Coast Guard reported that one person was swept to sea near McKinleyville, Calif., while trying to take pictures of the approaching waves. A search had begun.
Four people were also swept to sea in Curry County, Ore., in the southwestern corner of the state. According to Deputy Brandi Carballo, all four were overtaken by the water as they sought to observe the waves.
“They didn’t think the tsunami was that strong,” she said.
Two managed to escape under their own power, while two others were rescued by firefighters and members of law enforcement. One victim, a woman, was taken to the hospital after nearly drowning, said Deputy Carballo.
The first waves arrived along that stretch of the Oregon coastline around 7:30 a.m., but intensified between 11 a.m. and noon. Damage was not insignificant, with boats sunk in the harbor of Brookings, Ore., and others swept out to sea.
The National Weather Service was also reporting wide array of property damage along California’s most northern coast. About three dozen boats were destroyed in Crescent City, Calif., where a 1964 tsunami — considered one of the most destructive ever to strike the continental United States _ killed nearly a dozen people. On Friday, all of the city’s docks were destroyed, according to the weather service, though no homes were damaged.
Evacuations had been ordered in some spots, and officials were blunt in advising residents to stay clear.
“Don’t be fooled,” read a special weather statement. “Tsunami waves can seem to stop for long periods and then begin again.”
Powerful waves also sunk several boats in Santa Cruz harbor, about 60 miles southeast of San Francisco on Monterey Bay. A series of waves ripped docks up and sent debris speeding toward shore. Sailboats broke free of their moorings and slammed against docks, bridges and other boats. Surfboards, kayaks and other smaller watercraft were tossed airborne in the tumult.
As owners scrambled over docks to try to save their boats, bystanders serving as lookouts yelled, “Wave! Wave!” as surges ebbed and flowed in about 20 minute intervals.
“It was like a whitewater rafting trip in the middle of the harbor,” said Marc Kraft, president of Pacific Yachting and Sailing, a sailing school that had several boats damaged. Mr. Kraft said his brother, who lives in Tokyo, had called him before dawn to say that he was safe, but that a wave was headed his way.
“It’s hard to see this,” Mr. Kraft said. “But the bottom line is that no one was hurt.”
By midmorning, waves hitting local beaches near San Francisco were of a modest size and posed no flooding danger. Instead of causing people to flee, however, the potential for powerful surges attracted large crowds of spectators to the shore.
In Hawaii, far larger waves started hitting the islands early Friday and caused damage to piers and marinas and some flooding, officials said. There have been no reports of deaths or injuries. Officials in California and elsewhere along the West Coast closed beaches as a precaution, prohibiting swimming, surfing and fishing.
There were no calls for widespread, mandatory evacuations. But weather experts warned that there could be large waves and unusual changes in the currents for several hours. Schools in some California beach communities closed Friday.
Along the Oregon coast, Marvin VandeStreek, who operates the Edwin KBed and Breakfast in Florence, Ore., said tsunami warnings had been broadcast in the area throughout the night.
“They were sounding the sirens for people to evacuate and police and fire were coming through the streets with loudspeakers and the lights going,” Mr. VandeStreek said.
He said he woke the guests at his inn and moved into an evacuation center, where other residents — some with their pets — surrounded a television broadcasting CNN.
At a news conference Friday morning at City Hall, Mayor Edwin M. Lee of San Francisco said he did not expect the crest — expected to be one to two feet — to cause damage. He said no evacuations would be ordered.
Still, the Great Highway — which runs along Ocean Beach, the city’s premier stretch of sand and a popular surf spot — was closed, and officials were warning residents and visitors to stay clear of the area. But the surf seemed normal Friday morning, though hundreds of sightseers had come to watch the waves, which arrived just past 8 a.m. Onlookers lined the cliffs above the beach and clogged some suburban highways angling for a view.
Chakot Rabhakrishnan, a laid-off Sprint customer service representative who lives near San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, said he had come to “have a watch.”
He said he been a little worried about the surge but could “tell by the rocks,” he said — pointing to an outcropping poking out of the surf — that no big wave was headed to the beach.
“I thought we might get some effect,” Mr. Rabhakrishnan said. “But not so much.”
In Pacifica, Calif., a small coastal city about 15 miles south of San Francisco, school officials canceled classes for the day and law enforcement officials on loudspeakers cleared people off beaches and strung yellow caution tape to close off beach parking lots.
On Friday morning at about 8 a.m. — when the first surge had been predicted to arrive — hundreds of residents and curious onlookers sought higher ground and premium views along a road above the city.
People parked their cars, set up lawn chairs and looked seaward through binoculars and cameras, waiting.
Among those who evacuated were Andy Wood, 43, his wife Erin, 35, and their three sons, ages 16, 3 and 10 months.
The Woods, who live a few blocks from the beach, received a call from the sheriff’s office at about 4:30 a.m., so they packed the boys, a change of clothes, their dog, Daisy, and cat, Bella, into the family minivan and headed for safety.
“We’ve been worried about tsunamis since we moved here,” said Mr. Wood, a computer programmer. “As soon as we got that call I was like, ‘Let’s pack up and get out.’ I’d rather be overcautious and look like a fool than end up on the news for not evacuating when we should have.”
After watching the ocean for about an hour, Mr. Wood said the family planned to head home. “It looks like another normal day at the beach,” he said.
In the hours before the waves were predicted to hit Hawaii, Honolulu Police drove down Kalakaua Avenue telling straggling tourists to return to their hotels and advising street musicians and vendors about what streets to avoid on their way home. In one sign that something unusual was afoot, a two-block pleasure zone along Kapiolani Street was nearly devoid of prostitutes well before midnight.
In the Waikiki district, lines formed at gas stations and some high-end boutiques closed early.
At the 1,600-room Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, a whiteboard announcing the tsunami warning drew worried guests as well as those who posed before the board for vacation snapshots. Later in the evening, guests from lower floors were relocated to rooms higher in the hotel.
In the expansive lobby of the Sheraton Wakiki, a cluster of Japanese guests remained, using a bank of Internet-connected computers.
The tsunami did have one temporary, picturesque effect on Waikiki Beach: a circle of lights, like a new skyline, a mile offshore, where boats from local marinas had gone to ride out the storm.
On the island of Lanai, civil defense sirens sounded piercing alarms at regular intervals into the night and thousands of people in low-lying coastal areas deemed “inundation zones” were ordered to evacuate. But by morning, a school of spinner dolphins could be seen swimming peacefully in Manele Bay, apparently sensing no further danger.