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CNN This Morning

Tsunami Waves hit Hawaii; Tsunami Alerts for Japan, Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast; Ariel Cohen is Interviewed about the Tsunami Alerts; Northern California Under Tsunami Warnings; Japan Issues Tsunami Alerts; Dr. Ellen Prager is Interviewed about Tsunamis. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 30, 2025 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[06:32:06]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: We are following breaking news. A tsunami threat in Hawaii and large waves on the U.S. West Coast after a large earthquake in Russia. Waves measuring more than five feet were seen across parts of Hawaii overnight. In the last hour, that tsunami warning was downgraded to an advisory. But there's no all-clear as of yet. People should remain cautious.

Now, the cause of all this was a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the eastern coast of Russia late Tuesday. One of the strongest quakes ever recorded. The only tsunami warning remaining in the U.S. is in northern California, where we've just learned that waves topping three feet hit near the California-Oregon border.

I'm going to bring in now CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar.

Allison, can you give us an update on what is forecast, what you've been seeing, but also what's forecast the next few hours?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right, so the forecast is going to be, there are still going to be some more waves. You know, this isn't just one wave. If, again, we mentioned it earlier, if you think about dropping a rock or a stone into the water, it creates those ripples. But there's not just one, there's many of them. And that's what's going to continue to happen here. You're going to have multiple waves that come through a lot of these areas until that water finally gets back down toward its normal level.

Some of the numbers here across Hawaii have reached four and even five feet. Again, this is going to be above that normal level.

Here's a -- kind of a better way of showing this. So, right here you can see these kind of little mini dips. That's the normal ebb and flow that you would have. This gauge here from around Maui. Now you start to see some of these bigger ups and downs in the swings that go through here. The thing about these is, this is when the tsunami comes in, OK. This -- you've got the first wave. The second wave. And then you still continue to see some more of them. But then they slowly start to come back down in size.

And that's going to be the case. Not just in Hawaii, but also into California, where we've also had some high measurements. You've got Arena Cove here picking up a three-foot measurement, Crescent City at 3.6. So again, you've got some of these other areas that are still dealing with some relatively high numbers. And really where we were expecting them to be in the forecast.

It's also why you still have this small portion of northern California's coastline that is still dealing with that tsunami warning. All of the other yellow areas you see here are now down to an advisory. Just so you know, an advisory is one step below a warning. So, the warning is the highest level. And we do still have that across portions of northern California. And the reason for that is the bathymetry of the coastline there makes them more susceptible, more prone to more of that water being pushed in because of a tsunami.

So, let's kind of start with the basics here. This red dot, this is where the 8.8 magnitude quake took place. Not all earthquakes cause tsunamis. In fact, you have to have very specific things that kind of come together. The earthquake has to be a certain size. It has to be a certain depth in terms of where the epicenter took place.

[06:35:04]

And there's a lot of factors that go into play here, including the type of fault line that the earthquake happens on. But this particular one met all of the criteria. So, we did end up having a tsunami.

When you have that tsunami, it pushes the water out typically in one direction. You can see that here. It's kind of going to the south and the southeast. Now, one thing to note is, with the tsunami we can actually time them down to the hour of when that first wave is expected to arrive. And that's what you have here, these lines explaining when it's going to hit all of the different areas. And that's what we've been looking at over the last several hours of kind of timing out when these waves are going to happen. But as we mentioned again, Audie, it's going to be multiple waves, not just a singular one.

CORNISH: Allison, also, you know, you were talking about it moving down to an advisory. I notice in that chart, though, it still says strong currents, stay out of the water. Can you talk about how strong -- I think any of us who have been ocean swimming know that even on a regular day that looks calm on the outside, the waters can be very difficult.

CHINCHAR: And I think the thing that people need to understand is, it's not just necessarily the height of the waves. Yes, that's important. It's the speed at which the water is rushing inland, even if it is just a foot or maybe two. The speed at which that water is moving is more than enough to knock you off your feet. An so you do, you have people that want to go out. They want to take pictures. They want to see it. But that is absolutely not safe to do. Even if you consider yourself to be a very strong swimmer, these are not the type of waves to be dealing with. Just stay safe. Stay away from the shoreline until those officials have given the all-clear.

CORNISH: CNN's meteorologist Allison Chinchar, thank you.

Now, some of California's beaches, harbors and docks, they're actually closed. And not just because of the threat of waves. As Allison was just talking about, there's this danger of those strong currents.

So, we want to go live now to the coast of California. CNN's Veronica Miracle is in Santa Monica.

Veronica, can you talk about how people were reacting over overnight as they were dealing with these advisories? Do people seem to be taking these concerns seriously?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Definitely, Audie. It's been quiet here, and people in Los Angeles will be waking up to no damage, no flooding. But overnight, people have stayed away from the beaches here, the coastline. We have seen no activity here except for police officers occasionally patrolling the area and monitoring here.

This is really, truly the best-case scenario for all up and down the West Coast. Those tsunami waves hit more than an hour ago from Washington, Oregon and California. And the most significant waves that were seen all up and down the West Coast were in northern California, waves over three feet, as Allison was talking about. But everywhere else, it could have been so much worse. And really people are going to be waking up to -- to no concerns here.

Now, in Hawaii, there were some significant waves and there was some low-lying flooding. And so there was some, you know, concern at some times. People were being evacuated, told to go to higher ground, told to go to hotels and buildings with four stories or higher. And so there was a little bit of chaos, including a passenger who said he got stranded on the big island of Hawaii as he was trying to get back to his cruise ship.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY BOOKER, CRUISE PASSENGER STRANDED IN HAWAII: We were up visiting Volcano National Park. And so the tsunami warning go off on our phones. And then one of the tour operators from our -- our cruise ship, the Pride of America, said, everyone back to the ship as fast as you can. Ships leaving at 3:30. And -- but we knew at that point we weren't going to make it. So, it -- its pulling away now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MIRACLE: So, they are opening up harbors back again in Hawaii. They're also allowing people to go back to their homes in the low lying coastal areas. So, things are starting to slowly return back to more normal. But officials are asking people to remain vigilant.

Audie.

CORNISH: CNN's Veronica Miracle. She's there in California at Santa Monica. We'll come back to her later today.

I want to bring in now Ariel Cohen, because he's the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Los Angeles.

Good morning. Thank you for being with us.

ARIEL COHEN, METEOROLOGIST IN CHARGE, NATIONAL WEALTH SERVICE, LOS ANGELES/OXNARD, CALIFORNIA: Good morning, and thank you for having me.

CORNISH: And it sounds like you might be having a better morning than you did overnight, correct? When did you all sort of spring into action and realize the situation would be dire?

COHEN: It was shortly after the very significant earthquake occurred yesterday, late afternoon, when we were working with the National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska, to identify -- who identified that a potential significant tsunami could impact the Pacific Coast area, including southern California.

As we monitored the situation, they had issued a tsunami watch and then followed that by an advisory indicating the potential for at least some minor impacts over the beaches and coastline areas near Los Angeles.

[06:40:09]

CORNISH: Ariel, there's a lot of people who their sort of relationship to tsunamis is through Hollywood depictions. They have no real idea about what it means. Can you give us a sense of kind of what it means for there to be a tsunami? And even when you're looking at calm waters, like from some of our images, what the dangers are with the currents?

COHEN: The overall concept of a tsunami is surging of water from the ocean all the way onshore. I know that brings some very vivid imagination when we use the word tsunami, and we have seen destructive tsunamis affect areas around the Pacific Ocean.

But every tsunami is different. They come in very different shapes and forms. And so, this was a scenario where, while conditions are improving, it was, in terms of local impacts to southern California, much on the weaker side. Now, that being said, we are still seeing a lot of surging of the waters, especially along west and northwest facing beaches. And these areas, such as the Port San Luis area, Ventura Harbor area, and even near Santa Monica, are where we're getting a lighter version in terms of impacts of the water surging, potential for some very minor inundation near the beaches and very significant and powerful rip currents.

So, while it might not be meeting those conditions that, as you mentioned, Hollywood brings about, when we think about tsunamis, still a situation that everyone needs to be very vigilant, remain at a high state of readiness as we head through the daytime hours. While the situation may be improving to some extent, we're not out of the woods just yet.

CORNISH: Ariel Cohen, thank you so much for that advisory. Ariel is a meteorologist at the L.A. National Weather Service.

Now ahead on CNN This Morning, tsunami alerts continue all along the Pacific Coast. An 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Russia left Americans bracing for dangerous waves. Nowe, the threat is tapering off in Hawaii, but why that could be a good sign for the West Coast.

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[06:46:44]

CORNISH: We continue our breaking coverage of the tsunami threat across the Pacific. The first tsunami waves have started hitting the West Coast of the U.S. So far, tsunami waves of just over three feet have been reported in parts of California. A tsunami warning remains in effect in northern California.

In Hawaii, tsunami waves of more than five feet were recorded across the islands. The warnings there have been downgraded to an advisory, but no all clear has been issued just yet.

Joining me now for more on this story is CNN's Marybel Gonzalez. She is in southern California.

Marybel, thanks so much for being with us. Good morning.

I know you've been following this story overnight. Can you talk about how people sort of reacted to the warnings, to the advisories, sort of how that played out?

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Audie.

Well, I can tell you here in southern California, it's definitely a rare occurrence when you hear tsunami advisory or even warning in California. And so, it really is -- took people by surprise and a lot of action was taken to warn residents of safety measures that they needed to take just as a precautionary measure. And really you can see that it -- people are really heeding those warnings. You know, it is -- it is early in the morning. We've seen a few people, stragglers here along the beach. But for the most part, it's been very calm and relatively quiet here.

We know that, you know, in the overnight hours there were law enforcement agents on helicopter warning people -- flying overhead and warning them to get away from those beaches. This, again, as a safety measure because we just really didn't know how much water or how much the waves were going to grow.

Now, as you mentioned, in some parts, we have seen those three feet of -- of wave -- of the -- of -- a measurement of waves. In southern California, up to 1.6 feet as well. But we know again that people are taking this seriously. They're heeding those warnings. And for right now, you know, they are staying away from harbors and from piers, just like this one. In fact, this one behind us in Manhattan Beach will be closed until 6:00 a.m.

CORNISH: That's CNN's Marybel Gonzalez. Thank you.

Now in Asia, large waves are hitting Japan's northern and eastern coastlines. Waves of over four feet high hit in the northeastern part of the country. Nearly 2 million people there have been told to evacuate.

Joining me now is CNN correspondent Marc Stewart, live from Beijing.

And, Marc, I want to get to sort of how this started in Russia in just a moment, but can you talk about what is happening in the region in terms of Japan?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Audie. In fact, within the last hour or so, Japan's public broadcaster, NHK, is now reporting that tsunami warnings still remain in place in the northeastern part of Japan along the coast. That is the Hokkaido prefecture. Another area known as Tohoku. Those areas are still under a tsunami warning. And this is something that Japan has been taking very seriously.

You're looking at some pictures now from Hokkaido from earlier today of people evacuating to the rooftop of a fire department, trying to get to higher ground as a precautionary move.

[06:50:11]

About 2 million people, as I mentioned, have been advised to evacuate. Some of this has been relaxed in parts of the country. But in this particular part, it's a very earthquake prone area. It's along the coast. So, there's a lot of concern. We should also point out that air and rail traffic has also been disrupted.

You're also seeing some pictures of the waves crashing along the coast. I was a correspondent for CNN in Japan during most of 2023. And I will tell you that earthquakes and tsunamis are something that the nation takes very seriously. The emergency response system is very proactive. The alerts come at just a rapid pace. The technology that's been installed there is -- is quite remarkable.

And all of this for good reason. It was back in 2011 that we saw a massive earthquake hit Japan. It crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. There was essentially a meltdown there and a big radiological nuclear disaster. Since that time, if you go along Japan's coast, there are seawalls that have been built to try to mitigate the impact of a tsunami.

So, what we are seeing here, these -- these mass evacuations, this very aggressive response, it certainly makes a lot of sense if we look at things in historical perspective from Japan. But, Audie, we are going to keep watch on Japan because, as I mentioned, there are still warnings that remain in place. Tsunami warnings that remain in place for the northeastern part of the country along the Japanese coast.

CORNISH: Yes, we're looking at those images from earlier, and you see the kind of ripple of the waves. It's not one big wave that they're concerned about, it's the kind of overall process of the tsunami.

I want to just -- one more question about Russia, because that's where this all started, right, the initial earthquake. Can you talk about the state of things there?

STEWART: Right. So, this happened, the earthquake, the epicenter essentially is off the far east coast of Russia. You can see on that map there. There is video that was taken from inside an operating room as a surgery was taking place. And if you look at the images that were actually captured while the earthquake hit, you see doctors are holding on to the patient, surgical equipment, monitors, they are all shaking rapidly. I mean, look at this. That's -- it's -- it's -- it's quite a sight to see there. That, again, coming from Russia.

This also, though, impacting just life in general. There was a kindergarten in this quake zone that also saw some damage. And I think it's also important to stress that this is very much now becoming a regional concern. Obviously, there's concern in Asia. There's concern in the U.S. with Hawaii. But French Polynesia, some islands further in the Pacific Ocean have been at risk. There is concern in British Columbia and Canada, as well as in Latin America. Varying responses. But when you have a quake of this size, 8.8 magnitude, it's not surprising to see that the entire world is adjusting.

So, Audie, I'm sure we're going to see more images as daylight rises in many other parts of the world.

CORNISH: Marc Stewart, thank you for bringing that context. I remember in Japan that Fukushima nuclear crisis. And you're right, I think it was a big trauma to the country and the region.

I want to bring in next, Dr. Ellen Prager, a Marine scientist, actually chief scientist for storm center communications.

Good morning. Thank you for being with us.

DR. ELLEN PRAGER, MARINE SCIENTIST AND AUTHOR: Good morning.

CORNISH: So, I want you to help us make sense of this combination of warnings, advisories and alerts for people, especially who are kind of waking up and may find themselves still in a danger zone. At this point, what are meteorologists, forecasters looking for and at to judge danger?

PRAGER: So, Audie, the problem is, tsunamis don't act like regular waves. And they can do things that make it very hard to forecast exactly how high they're going to be and how long the series of waves are going to last, because the bathymetry can steer the energy into certain places and you have a higher tsunami there than other places. And that might be one of the things that's happening here with this large of a quake.

Also, if you have a bay, you can get the water funneled in and you're going to have a higher tsunami. And it's a series of waves. It's not going to be just one. So, what's really important is for people to be listening to their local authorities and waiting for the all-clear to go home, if they've evacuated, you know, to please don't go down to the coast to see what's happening.

[06:55:12]

It takes time to understand and see what exactly is going to happen in every different area.

CORNISH: The reason why I'm asking is because we're also hearing that in a way, with these kinds of waves, you can time sort of where they'll be. And so I'm sort of hearing this information that in a way there's kind of a methodical way to watch it. But you're saying there's still some unpredictability.

PRAGER: The unpredictability is more in the size of the waves in each site. And how many, you know, how many waves you're going to get. Basically what they're doing is, they're saying, OK, the source is that 8.8. You have had vertical seafloor movement. It's going to affect the ocean overlying it.

And then we know how fast tsunami's waves travel in the open ocean. About 600 miles per hour, 500, 600 miles per hour. And so we have models. And those models are giving you the travel time in the ocean, and they're telling you when the first wave should hit someplace. And that's where you saw the Hawaii travel time, the California travel times. But those travel times don't tell you exactly how big the wave is going to be when it gets there. And if it -- and if it's going to be a series of waves or the kind of currents that are going to be created. So that's where there is a little bit of uncertainty.

CORNISH: Although that number you just said, miles per hour, traveling in the ocean is like actually pretty intense. I want to get us --

PRAGER: It -- it --

CORNISH: Yes, say more.

PRAGER: Yes. I was going to say, let me -- let me make sure our people understand. That's only in the open ocean. When it hits shore, those tsunami waves are slowed down by friction on the bottom and they hit the shore at like 20, maybe 30 miles an hour. So, I don't want people thinking, you know, there's a wave that's going to hit the shore at 600 miles per hour. No. When it -- the shallowing of the water slows it down, as well as other things, you know, that are in the way.

I want to get a sense from you of how unusual it is for us to have this kind of warning for the U.S. Pacific West Coast. We heard from Japan. We heard from the region earlier. One of our reporters was talking about how much work Japan and its government has -- has done to try to mitigate what for them is a far more frequent concern.

PRAGER: You're 100 percent right. Think about like your guest was talking about, like Japan and the -- the size of the tsunamis and earthquakes they've had in the past that have affected that region. They are much more attuned to tsunami alerts and what's happening. We don't have them as frequently in the West Coast. And, you know, obviously, people aren't sure always what to do, but we have had some. We've had them in Alaska. Crescent City. California's had tsunamis in the past. So, they're just less frequent.

But it all ties into where the earthquake is, the magnitude. And if there is seafloor displacement, this -- where it happened is what's called the subduction zone. And that's where you tend to have vertical movement. And it tends to create the most powerful tsunamis. That kind of earthquake. And this one is very large. So, you know, automatically when you get a 7.1 or bigger, automatically the -- they go on alert for tsunamis and start looking at it because but so, think, that's an 8.8. That's more than 32 times the energy.

So, it's a really powerful quake. Luckily, they don't happen that frequently and, you know, affect the west coast of California. But this one certainly could.

CORNISH: I think people maybe have a sense of with a hurricane they have the warnings, they have some time, they figure out maybe what to do. When it comes to tsunami alert or -- or warning or higher, is it get to high ground? Is it, start to think -- just keep an eye on it? Give us a sense of sort of how people should hear these warnings.

PRAGER: Well, if there is a warning, absolutely move to high ground as fast as possible. Now, that doesn't mean you have to necessarily drive up a mountainside. And when we say move to high ground, it could also be what we call a vertical evacuation. Go up higher in a building. That, you know, we've heard of people in Indonesia, just they went up trees. So, you have to get higher. That's the most important.

The most important thing is, if there is a warning, get to higher ground as quickly as possible and don't go out to shore. Sometimes, and I know you've probably seen this, people say, oh, look, the ocean is receding. There's fish. There's other things. I'm going to -- I'm going to go see what's happening. That is the worst thing people can do.

So, a watch, an advisory, people need to be -- being prepared. They need to be staying aware. It's, you know, just like you mentioned, hurricanes. Sort of like being weather aware, being tsunami aware.

CORNISH: Yes.

PRAGER: Listening to the reports, right? People need to take responsibility and -- and listen to what's going on and know what to do.

[07:00:04]

Like you said, be prepared. Go to higher ground if there is an actual warning.

CORNISH: Well, Dr. Ellen Prager, marine scientist, chief scientist for storm center communications, the word from you directly, don't go take a peek. Please adhere to what you're hearing.

I want to thank you so much for talking with us.

PRAGER: Thank you. CORNISH: I want to thank you for waking up with us, but please stay

with us because "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.