breaking news at this hour. a tsunami warning is in effect for hawaii after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off canada's west coast. waves as high as seven feet could be hitting parts of maui at 4:20 eastern time, so half

hour from now. an expect says the waves are powerful enough to cause significant damage in low-lying areas. evacuations are currently under way as residents are told to go to higher ground. a shelter has been opened to accommodate those people. the quake sent five to several-fight high waves to the california and oregon coast. it also triggered a tsunami warning in alaska, but that's been called off for now. our nbc affiliate in honolulu is reporting they do not expect this to be a major event. but they're saying it could do some coastal damage throughout the overnight hours. right now it is 10:00 p.m. in hawaii. we'll keep you posted on any new developments. now back to our program.

>> an inmate's erratic behavior >> i can't believe i did it, but i guess anybody can be a killer. >> a murderer faces the death penalty while his girlfriend awaits trial in the women's wing of the jail. >> when dennis told me that he needed my help, i was like, oh, no, no, no way. >> [bleep]. >> before i knock all of your fronts out. >> a newly arrived female inmate. >> excuse me? >> a surprise raid causes problems for another inmate. >> when the s.o.r.t. team comes in, everybody is going down. ♪

♪ >> on the banks of the ohio river, louisville, kentucky, has been ranked as one of the ten safest large cities in america. but downtown is a two-block reminder that not all is well. every year, about 45,000 men and women are booked into the louisville metro department of jail. most have only been charged with their crimes and are here awaiting trial or the resolution of their cases. those stays can range from months to years. and during that time, some will find themselves with new troubles. >> we have some intel from two various sources. there's been a whole lot of marijuana on the fourth floor,

so we're trying to catch something and then link it back to certain inmates and try to link where it's coming in. we have some ideas, so what we've got now, i've activated the shift team of s.o.r.t. we're going to go in and get in their paths and try to search the inmates and search the dorm and hopefully get some of the dope out of there today. >> search them, go back in, search the dorm. all right. anybody causes us any problems, we cuff them up, we put them in one of the holding cells. we'll deal with them later. >> all right. >> any questions about what we're doing? >> go. >> down, down, down. >> move, move, move. >> absolutely no talking, gentlemen. put your hands on the wall. no talking, no talking. >> the dorm is evacuated and the inmates are frisked for contraband before they're moved to holding cells. and then the s.o.r.t. team conducts a thorough search of the dorm.

45 minutes later, the search doesn't turn up marijuana. but one officer has found something that doesn't belong. >> it looks like we've got some matches. and there's the -- matter of fact, there's a striker off the back of the match packet. so a couple matches wrapped up in plastic. this constitutes dangerous contraband because you can make fire out of them. he'll most likely get a write-up and be moved out of the dorm to a single cell. >> roll. >> let's go. back to your dorms. >> while most of the inmates return to the dorm, aaron byerly is rerouted by staff for some questions. the match heads were found on his bunk.

>> i have extremely bad luck when the s.o.r.t. team comes in. aaron byerly is going down. >> he'll talk to the officer in the morning. you just tell him your side of the story again. and then we'll decide if you're going to a single cell or allowing you to stay in the dorm, okay? >> all right. >> byerly will soon have a disciplinary hearing to determine whether he will go to segregation where he will lose most of his privileges and be locked in a cell 23 hours a day. but it will not be his first time there. >> all of my writings are for smoking, fighting, promoting contraband. and flooding my cells. if you get put in the hole while you're here and you're in prison, you go to the hole and you're going to prison. >> and prison is where byerly is headed. he was sentenced for repeat

convictions of drug trafficking. he could transfer any day now. >> i headed up here because i was working for my father, and the money was getting a little bit tight and i liked the better things in life. so i started trafficking in the field and things like that just to make some extra money on the side. i didn't do too well because look where i am at? >> byerly, however, has accepted his fate and looks forward to leaving jail for prison where he believes he'll find better conditions. >> this is the worst time that you could do. this is the hardest time. it don't get no worse than this. it is nonstop stress. it is nonstop problems, it's nonstop headaches. this is nonstop horribility. i don't even know if that's a word, but it's horrible here. >> some inmates could serve short sentences in the jail. or receive home incarceration, but if they break the rules at home, it's back to jail as mary logan has just discovered. >> you're just upset because they take me off of h.i.p. and i didn't do nothing wrong

for somebody to take me off h.i.p. >> so why did they take you off? >> because i blew a .4. i have five kids and tried to do everything right in my life. >> what's your name? >> mary lohden. >> mary lohden, when you first got put on h.i.p., one of the rules and stipulations was no alcohol, right? zero tolerance. >> and i didn't read all over it. i just signed my initials to it. >> don't be upset. we'll work with you. it will work out. all right? okay? >> thank you. thank you. >> tell us if you need us. >> thank you. >> lohden was released to the home incarceration program on a theft program. >> incarceration is incarceration is incarceration. and people need to follow the rules. absolutely no alcohol. no drugs. >> seems like every time i'm trying to do the right thing to do better, it's -- a rock just

falls right in front of me and i can't go no further. it's like i'm stuck right there. >> lohden is moved to a fresh arrest dorm. a special housing unit for women newly booked into the jail. she will remain until a judge decides whether to return her to home incarceration or make her serve the rest of her sentence in jail. but lohden seems determined to make an impression. >> that's my bunk. >> yeah, it's mine now. you snooze, you lose. there ain't no bunk assignments in [ bleep ] jail. get that [ bleep ] right. >> hey, come back out here. >> do they own bunks around here? >> come back outside. >> i'm good. >> come on, come on. >> excuse me? excuse me? excuse me.

>> i said i'm sick, and i've got to be on the bottom bunk. >> okay, that's fine. but i didn't think the jail, nobody owns no bunks around here. >> we thought she was calm enough after talking to her to put her in first arrest dorm. obviously, that doesn't happen. a lot of times, they'll act out on purpose to get to a single cell because they don't want to be with other people. in this case, i think that's her deal. >> we'll try it again later. >> coming up. >> all of these bitches in this [ bleep ] have a [ bleep ] problem with me, i'll go to the,i.p. >> mary lohden decreases her chances of getting home. and -- >> believe me, our house smelled like a decomposing body with a bunch of fragrance because you can't cover up that smell.

>> an inmate that hit close to home for one officer. >> first thing i wanted to do was take justice into my own hands. but i decided against that.

>> the louisville metro department of corrections jail books an average of about 120 new inmates a day. the reactions to being in jail run an equally wide gamut. >> all of these bitches in this [bleep] got a problem with me, i'll go to the hole every r.i.p. and i don't give a [bleep]. >> mary lohden serving time for a theft conviction has just returned to the jail for violating home incarceration rules after she tested positive for alcohol. >> ain't nobody on drugs. this is sober. this is sobriety right here.

>> officers removed her from a dorm due to disruptive behavior. >> excuse me? excuse me? >> but, now, even in the single person cell, she's gotten into a conflict with a neighbor. >> just do the damn thing [bleep]. let's do it then. [bleep] i'll knock all of your fronts out. i'll knock all your fronts out. >> sit down now. >> i will knock all of your fronts out, bitch. knock you down a size, whore. you don't feed nobody right here. all you do is treat people like dogs in here. treat them like dogs. >> are you done so i can explain? >> yes, ma'am, i'm done. >> okay. chow time -- >> for now i am. >> i'm not going to talk if you're going to keep talking over me. you can just sit in here and scream and yell all you want. i'm trying to explain it to you. we just came on shift. chow is on the floor. you will be fed in a -- >> i'm upset because that guy said i wasn't going to be in here long. i don't want to be in here.

mr. shepherd, officer shepherd -- >> there you go, so, listen, i can't do what happened on the first shift or the other shifts. >> exactly. so all you can do is keep me in this [bleep] until monday, can't you? >> right. >> and that's what you're going to do, right? >> right. >> i have nothing else to say. >> are you going to stop yelling? >> yes. >> okay. >> yes. >> all right. and then that's all we need. >> so i stay in this room right here, don't get out, get nothing. >> you get an hour out a day. but i'm going to tell you right now, if you continue all of this yelling and screaming, you're not coming out. that's all going to be on you. if you want to come out, you need to behave. >> okay. >> all right. usually, if you can talk calm to them and just keep talking, and i'm very monotone when i talk to them, and i just

keep repeating the same thing, this -- they eventually get through their chaotic behavior. >> lohden's future is uncertain. it will be up to a judge to decide if she can return to home incarceration or serve her 6 to 12-month sentence in jail. uncertainty marks the lives of most inmates here. but the stakes for dennis hall are considerably higher. he's already served 14 years for sexual assault. now, he's charged with murder. >> i killed an innocent man. i can't believe i did it, but i guess anybody can be a killer. >> how did this man die? >> strangulation. >> hall admits to murdering one of his roommates. a 53-year-old disabled man jamesed jeff bishop. he hopes to reach a plea bargain with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, but it still looms over him. >> i'm thinking about them saying, mr. hall, we sentence you to death. i don't know. maybe i deserve to die, too.

>> the murder occurred in this small house on the outskirts of the city. hall says he was high on drugs when he and bishop got into a fight. after strangling bishop, hall then tried to cover up the crime. >> the next day is when i took him to the basement. he was wrapped up in plastic. you couldn't see his regular body. all you could see was plastic. >> hall had help in concealing the body. it came from a third roommate, his girlfriend, heather baringer. >> when dennis told me that he needed my help, i was like, oh, no, no, no way, uh-huh. i don't think so. i was totally against it. and then he was begging me, basically. he said i can't do this by myself. i'm going to go to prison for a long time. i need you to help. he was begging me. >> i was in shock. i have never in my life been in

a situation like this. i never went back in the basement again. dennis did the rest. all i did was move him. >> for two weeks, bishop's body lay decomposing in the basement. >> and we got air fresheners and put it all through the house. believe me, our house smelled like decomposing body with a bunch of fragrance because you can't cover that smell. >> baringer later told a friend about the murder, and he tipped off police. she admits to her role in the crime and is also attempting to reach a plea deal with complicity to commit a murder, tampering with evidence and possession of forged documents. baringer and hall admit to stealing disability and social security checks to fund drug addictions. >> that one act, it took five minutes, took my whole life. >> but they are not the only ones at louisville metro whose

lives have been profoundly altered by the murder of bishop. >> man on the walk. >> first thing i wanted to do was take justice into my own hands, but i've decided against that. >> bishop's brother is one of the jail's correctional officers. >> there were times where my brother and i were all that we had. so we were pretty close. i don't remember a time without my brother. >> officer bishop is assigned to sections of the jail where he does not come into contact with either hall or baringer. >> it's a good thing because to be honest with you, if he were to be walking out in the hallway, you never know what would happen. i couldn't say for sure what would happen. >> coming up -- >> i didn't want anybody to say that they're sorry, because i know the only reason that they're sorry is they were sorry for getting caught. >> officer bishop faces his brother's killer in court. but first -- >> why are you here?

>> to keep it from getting infected. >> i'll keep on cutting. >> an inmate's self-abusive behavior taxes jail staff.

>> when officers at the louisville metro department of corrections jail recently discovered a contraband search, they discovered match heads on aaron byerly's bunk. >> aaron?

>> today, byerly goes to a discipline hearing. >> i'm not going to be a person that puts my business out there. if they say they found something and they found it, i'm not just going to say it's mine and cop out like that. that's just not my style. >> go to the table over there and have a seat in that red chair. >> byerly is due to transfer to prison any day now. if he is sent to segregation before then, that sanction could carry over to prison, as well. >> do you want to tell me your side of the story? >> yeah. when the s.o.r.t. team had came in, i was at the very front of the door. i was watching tv. there was a group of people by my rack. i don't know who put it there, i can't give you no individual name or anything like that. all i can say is it wasn't mine. >> here is what i've got. this isn't your first time getting caught with contraband. and it's hard for me to believe that that wasn't yours,

especially it was wrapped up and underneath a cup in the corner of your bunk? i mean you actually think somebody had time to pick it up and throw it there and lay it back down. >> i can tell you the same thing, you're not going to believe me, you know. you're going to do what you're going to do. >> november you got caught of narcotics. >> just because of previous offenses, i'm automatically guilty? >> you know what, i'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. so what i'm going to do, i'm going to take two weeks of your gym and you're going to serve that. >> so i can't go to gym or nothing like that? >> you can't go to the gym for two weeks. all right? >> all right. >> i'm thinking it went pretty well, but the gym, yeah, i'm kind of mad about that. but i guess i can't go for two weeks. two weeks. he could have done it for a lot longer than that. so he was fair. >> confiscating contraband from

inmates has always been a challenge for the jail. now, there's a more dire problem. one which seems to grow every day. >> you know, probably a full 25% to 30% of our inmate population has some type of mental illness. we do a pretty good job of stabilizing our mentally ill folks that come through our doors once we get them through here. we get them back on their medications, for example. we take care of their health care needs. they go back to the street and either they don't have access to their medications or they quit taking it. they decompensate and a very short time later they're back in custody, and we go through that cycle all over again. >> we went through this how many times now? >> 19-year-old antonio coleman is not classified as a mention tally ill inmate, but many of his actions require staff culmination.

in the four months he's been here, he's had more than 40 incidents of self-abusive behavior. now, he has cut himself again. >> we went through this a couple ties. you get pressed out, what happens?

>> at this point they're -- most of the hotels have a protocol here. they're told that fourth floor and higher is considered safe. and so for anybody staying on

the first few floors, they've asked to move up to higher floors. we were checked in on the 10th floor. we seem to be okay. and -- and some people have the choice to leave if they wanted to. i believe some people were checking out initially. but as word got out about people trying to evacuate waikiki traffic became an issue. at one point we considered heading to higher ground. i have a cousin at the barracks which is high in the mountains. by the time we realized that we wanted to leave, we thought we'd get stuck on the road and decided to stay here. >> we were looking at the skycam shots of the traffic around that area. it is absolutely congested. you had mentioned that you saw residents out and about. what seems to be the general feeling overall? are people worried about this? >> i have to say the locals seem to have a calm eye. we went to pick up food to go and came back to our room. there were people sitting down in a vietnamese restaurant

having their meal. the restaurant i think shut down, maybe about quarter to 10:00. they decided to close down. there were people walking up and down the street in their -- they had been -- i guess there had been two instances where they had two warnings from japan and i guess from the earthquake in chile. so some of these people are taking very lax attitude and don't seem to think there is going to be much of an issue. about a half-hour ago, you could see the fire trucks and police cars coming through with their speakers telling everybody to please, you know, get off the streets and head up to the higher ground.

stay on higher ground and one guy from the tsunami warning center said if you're going to shoot some video, use a zoom lens. we want you no are where near the coast. >> and i heard the danger is off the beach because of the rip currents asking folks well into tomorrow, surfers and such, to just stay out of the water. we're looking at live pictures right now and the waves look relatively calm. it's now 10:34 in hawaii and it seems as though there is movement but it doesn't look like 30-foot waves, what you were describing earlier. the beach looks empty right now, which is some good news. the thing i'm wondering you're there, you're in a high-rise building, so you're relatively safe. where do people in hawaii go? i know that the islands are pretty flat especially around the coast.

where are people evacuating to? >> if there's an opportunity to get into a high-rise building, they advise them to get above the poufourth floor. there are mountains that's one area that i believe is the highest point on this island as far as i've been told and so it's just an opportunity to get more inland. we're pretty much at sea level in waikiki. they were expecting a three-foot wave here so it wasn't like we were expecting a wall of water to come in. might get a little inundated or localized. we were told to stay off the first few floors just in case and, again, just in case, out of an abundance of caution. >> from what i understand this is an event that could take place throughout the night. i'm hearing that it's not just

one wave, it could be multiple waves. do we know how long this could go on for? >> well, at this point, they're telling us this warning is in effect until 7:00 p.m. hawaii time tomorrow, and obviously that could change once they see what the initial impact is. they've been known to downgrade or cancel warnings if it doesn't turn out to be what's expected. but we've been told for now through 7:00 p.m. tomorrow, so we'll stay put here until we hear otherwise. >> olivia santini is an nbc news producer who is vacationing in oahu, staying at a hotel there. be safe. we want to get you to the communications director. rod, are you with us. >> yes, i am. >> rod, it's 10:36 in hawaii right now and i understand that tsunami warning was in effect for 10:28. what are you seeing right now?

>> you know what, we haven't got then any word on any impacts yet we were expecting a six-foot wave. as you heard earlier, the waves should be coming in throughout the night whether they get bigger or smaller is unknown at this time. >> and i understand this is the result of a quake that took place earlier this evening that hit british columbia. what exactly do you know in terms of what hawaii can expect? we were talking about this being an all-night event that lasts throughout the day tomorrow at 7:00 p.m., i believe is what they're saying that the advisory will stay in effect until? >> the advisory will stay into effect, i believe, that long. the county of maui and the other counties in hawaii as well as the state of hawaii will monitor the situation throughout the night. we will update the news

organizations as we get information. right now everyone is in a holding pattern, you know, of people have evacuated the lower lying areas, and they are kind of just waiting it out right now. >> and i understand in terms of the hawaiian islands maui is supposed to get the most impact, is that correct? >> yes, that was the case last time as well. that last tsunami was march 2011. the most damage we got was at our boat harbor, a lot of the small vessels, fishing ships, sailing ships, were badly damaged. the dock area was badly damaged. we had debris on the road. we had some areas that saw some flooding but nothing terrible. nothing besides a dock that has to be rebuilt. a lot of cleaning up, though.

>> we were just speaking to our news producer, olivia santini, vacationing there in oahu and folks are being asked to ev evacuate to higher elevations and that would include some of the high rises that are there on that island. where are you having people evacuate to in maui? >> i'm sorry. are you talking about the high rise snz. >> yeah, evacuations in maui. where are you asking the residents in maui to evacuate to? >> the hotels and condominiums all have protocol. i believe if you're staying first, second and third floors you have to evacuate. if if you're higher up, you're fine. we have some areas, two of our high school gymnasiums have been opened up as evacuation areas.

some of the community have opened up their doors, some of the churches have opened up their doors. but our community centers, people are allowed to go there and park and wait. some areas there's no water and no restrooms. we told people that they need to keep that in mind. for the residents if they've got relatives or friends that live outside the tsunami zones, they're urged to head there. >> are you still asking folks at this point to go ahead and evacuate? we are looking at the shots of congestion that has taken over the roads there. are you suggesting that people get in their cars and continue to evacuate to the places you had just mentioned, or what is the protocol for folks right now? >> well, i don't know what areas you are looking at. for maui county there is no

traffic allowed in the tsunami zone. if you're still in there for whatever reason, you are allowed to come out but you can't -- no one should be there right now. people should be at a safer distance at a higher area ar or they should be well on their way. >> what else can folks do? once you get to your location, once you have evacuated higher ground, what else are you asked to do in terms of having a flashlight and canndles and so n and so forth? >> conserve water, listen to the radio, watch tv. don't use your telephone, your cell phones unless it's an emergency. the same goes for travel. we don't need anybody on the roads right now except for emergency vehicles. >> we understand you are the communications director there for maui county. have you heard anything else in terms of what they are doing?

>> not right now. actually i have to go. we have an update meeting. bye. >> take good care. thank you so much, rod antone, the communications director for maui county. again, we are watching this tsunami advisory that has taken over the hawaiian eislands ther. all of this as a result of a 7.7 earthquake that hit off the oes of british columbia earlier today. it is now 10:42 in the evening in hawaii and we're looking at live pictures. these are off the coast of hawaii. you see all of these high rises there, all of the hotels and the condominiums, and folks there are being asked to evacuate to higher elevation and some do include just evacuate to go a high rise if you can get yourself above the third floor, then obviously that with be preferred. outside of that there have been several evacuation centers that

have been set up. one of them in oahu is an army barracks. we were talking to our nbc news producer olivia santini who has been vacationing in oahu. her vacation has hit a bump in the road. she is actually there in one of those hotel high rises and joins us by phone. olivia, are you with us. >> i am. >> so what is going through your had head? the waves look relatively calm but i'm sure folks are still on edge. >> sure. i think probably for most visitors and tourists there's a little bit more anxiety just not knowing what the situation is. there wasn't a lot of information coming out. they couldn't tell us what to expect in terms of waves. they think it's going to be three feet. we think it's going to be six feet in some places when it comes ashore. but so much uncertainty and i guess they've been told similar things with the previous

earthquakes that have happened in japan and in chile and then there was some boat damage and obviously some waves and local damage but nothing too expensive, high emergency, i guess, as most locals would consider it. so we saw a lot of people walking around and i'm seeing a guy right now walking down the street. interesting. but they've all cleared out but they were kind of like, no worries, as far as they were concerned. i think it's are more the tourists and those on the beach front areas, you know, not knowing what to expect. they're probably feeling more apprehension at this point. >> you actually had mentioned -- you're there on vacation and it's actually halloween weekend, so you've seen a lot of people out and about, right? >> yes. pretty surreal to see people walking down the street in their costumes and some people were walking a little more briskly than others but others -- i believe there was a street festival going on or some sort

of festival going on downtown that they had to cancel rather last minute. i'm sure there were people who were downtown and then being told this information and not quite sure where to go or what to do. but it sounds like they've been able to get out of the area, most of those folks, or seek higher ground as needed. part of that area is in the evacuation zone. but otherwise, yeah. it's very quiet. i'm standing out on the balcony now looking around and i see a lot of lights on in the neighboring condos and hotels and you can see people with their television sets on. you know, so they're doing what they need to do, sitting here listening to the information and staying off the roads at this point. >> all right, olivia. well, stay safe and we'll check back with you shortly. olivia santini is an nbc news producer who has been vacationing in oahu, staying at a hotel. now to a resident of oahu who has been evacuated and joins us now by phone. are you with us? >> yes, i am here right now. >> hi. so we were just speaking to one

of our producers who is staying in a high-rise hotel. where have you been evacuate d to? >> i was originally in downtown honolulu, big halloween block party down there that i usually go. it goes from 5:00 until about 10:00 and the cops came through and told everyone to clear out, clear out. we luckily have a buddy walking around trying to figure out how to get to safe ground. e ironically we live on the east side of the island which is a mile from the beach. going up the highway there were cars lined up heading for high ground, and there's traffic going back into honolulu. we were heading back to kaleiwa. what happened 10:28 was supposed

to be the time the wave was supposed it -- they say now 10-15 minutes past. this is the third time an earthquake has happened and we always have to kind of be ready at all times. you never know if it's going to happen or not happen. >> you mentioned this is the third time you've been through something like this. tell us about what's happened in the past? >> yeah, there was the one off chile three years ago where they thought that it was going to hit and head for high ground, the same thing. the one off 0 hilo was an earthquake, a 9.8 earthquake, and go to your local stores get as much ice, water, batteries and head for high ground. the same thing, take the precautionary and, you know what, it's strange because nothing happened. it's kind of like a boy who

cries wolf. you never know. you have to be ready at all times. talking to friends, talking to family, it's like, oh, nothing is going to happen. nothing is going to happen, but it actually might happen. >> and you can never be too sure. we're looking at these live pictures right now and there is a lot more movement in terms of what's happening on the beach than there was just five minutes ago, and you had mentioned that you were actually out at a halloween party and i had read reports there were these big block parties with thousands of people. i think one of them had 15,000 people attending. was the evacuation orderly? you said there were lots of traffic and lots of congestion. were people panicked? >> when it happened, the sirens went off and then the police came through, and they just basically shut everything down. there were bands playing. everybody was in the street. they shut down about three to

four streets and there was some pandemonium. everyone kind of was going to get out of downtown honolulu. so as we were waiting for a ride, you though, the public service bus was just packed with lines and we just basically needed to make sure we got a ride home. i wanted to get out of there as soon as possible to take care of my home, my friends, my family, so it's different when it's a weekend because, you know, obviously everybody is out and about. it's halloween. everyone is dressed up and everyone is in different areas. it was different, just screaming at everybody, are get out. they were on the sirens. >> i know, i understand it's a weekend. it's halloween, definitely lots of people out on the streets. we're going to have to jump in

and join our affiliate coverage but terence waclawik, stay safe and thank you for joining us tonight. >> you bet. thank you very much. >> we want to listen in to our local affiliate, hawaii news now. we have gerard fryar who is a pacific tsunami warning center adviser. we're going to listen to what he has to say. from the tsunami pretty much the same. the first wave from the japan tsunami was small. it typically waves, tsunami waves in hawaii, usually the fist are not the biggest. it's wave number three or four that's the biggest. >> we saw that illustration that you handed out a little while ago. it's pretty alarming. how surprised are you considering the vast expanse of the ocean that energy was coming straight towards us? >> well, i've been playing this game for a while so i was not very surprised. there is nothing between canada

and us. so it just points. >> do we have an update here? >> do you have an update? >> okay. >> that was gerard frye of the tsunami center. again, he said in a couple of minutes he can get us a little bit more information. until then, keep wary, keep watching, and we'll have all the information for you here and online. back to you. >> great question, steve. thanks so much. clearly that is a man speaking to the entire state right now. everyone hinging on his information. people will take away different things from what he said which was a rather open-ended and somewhat vague. he said, i was hoping the first wave was bigger. don't take that the wrong way. he doesn't want there to be a dangerous wave. but he's concerned because we didn't see anything that people are going to head back to the evacuation shelter and something

could happen. >> let's all realize he was speaking off the cuff and apparently he as a scientist hopes his prediction was accurate. and that would tell more about what was expecting at this point. it's still wait and see. >> this live picture here is of maui. i know gerard just said that, they have not seen anything noticeable here in hilo but did notice the rise and fall in hanalei and, yeah, he said it right. he said he was expecting to see bigger waves but, of course, he specifically we don't see the biggest waves until either number three or four. >> i also heard him say it could be six hours. >> seven hours. >> i hope he's wrong about that. he said i don't issue the all cle clear. i drop the warning. we'll have to wait and see.

he did say he was going to be back 0 out in ten minutes or less with some sort of interpretation of the recent data that he's getting. we hope to hear from him very soon. all right. we have been listening in on our local affiliate coverage where we just heard from gerard fryar, a pacific tsunami warning official. talking about how the first wave wasn't necessarily the biggest one, but to watch out for waves number three and four because they could be bigger. again, that advisory stays in effect until tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. we want to bring in now our reporter with our local affiliate there in hawaii, khnl. are you with us? >> i am, veronica, yes. good evening. >> thank you for joining us. so i believe were you just speaking with gerard fryar? >> i was not. i was listening into parts of that broadcast. i'm talking to you live from the emergency operating center for the city and county of honolulu

which is on the island of oahu. we have about 1.2 million people we've been monitoring what the mayor is doing down here and all the city departments, fire department, ambulance, paramedics, lifeguards, police, how they are responding to this potential emergency. >> how seriously are they taking this? we're watching live pictures. we heard from the official are from the pacific tsunami warning center. he was saying the first wave is not necessarily the biggest one. how serious is this advisory? >> well, it is very serious and people are taking it as they take these things all over the united states. some of them take it seriously. some don't take it that seriously. we were seeing pictures earlier tonight from waikiki where dozens of people were gathered along the shoreline, along the famous waikiki beach thinking they would take pictures or perhaps see something as the waves came in even though the city officials said that

everyone should be evacuated and away from all shorelines by 10:00 p.m. local time and that the first waves were supposed to hit here around 10:30. some people were not heeding those warnings. but by and large people are heeding those warnings and have he headed for higher ground tonight causing traffic tie-ups all over the island in certain areas as people tried to drive out of low-lying areas and head to higher ground, veronica. we also heard, interestingly enough, that there were a number of traffic accidents. none of them serious, but we did have at least a half dozen or more traffic accidents all over the island that the paramedics said were most likely the result of people distracted by the evacuation and trying to head for higher ground. but at this point we're waiting and we're seeing those first waves were not too big and they say the problem is sometimes the first wave is the smaller wave

and it's not until the second, third or fourth set of waves from the tsunami that hit that can be more serious. that's why we're waiting and seeing what happens, veronica. >> you know, keoki, we're looking at live pictures right now and we see someone down by the water. i know that we've been talking about the importance of staying away from the beach, and i heard earlier it's not necessarily -- it's not necessarily the tsunami but more or less the rip currents and that's why you want to stay away from the beach. you were talking about traffic accidents earlier. it looked like it was a beautiful night in hawaii. what has the weather been doing? >> the weather has been great here and, of course, it's the saturday before halloween, so you know what that means. there were parties all over town, costume parties and those sort of things. some of them are canceled. it was sort of surreal as i was heading to the emergency operating center. i saw people walking along the streets of downtown honolulu in their costumes heading home from parties.

some were canceled because of this alert. it's sort of a bad time, frankly, to get the word out to people. the initial report came over at 5:00 p.m. local time and the initial report was that it wasn't something to be concerned about. you think about it, it's 5:00 or 6:00 at night on a saturday, the saturday before halloween. lots of people are enjoying a night out, not as plugged in as they might be, if you will, during a work day or early in the morning before people go to work or school. it took a little while to get word out to people and then started having lines at the gas stations and those sort of things and people were running into stores to pick up some supplies just in case there were some problems. so those are the kinds of things that unfold in a situation like

this. >> and i understand that you are at the emergency operating center there, and i know that it probably is difficult to get word out to all those revelers out on the streets on halloween weekend, but what has the pro-at the kol been how they've been doing that? >> well, we have a siren system, an emergency siren system, that goes off statewide here in hawaii because, you know, we've had loss of life in tsunamis and we take this very seriously. there's a statewide siren warning on the first work iing y of every month and they test those sirens statewide. tonight, interestingly, veronica, we have scattered reports and we don't have a lot of details at this point but on the island of oahu, the main population center here on the hawaiian islands, there were sirens that didn't go off according to all civil defense officials. they said initially the first sirens were supposed to sound at about 7:50 p.m., just before

8:00 tonight local time. they could not -- there were initial reports they didn't go off and so then the civil defense officials decided to sound them again a few minutes later and a second round of sirens went off on the island at 8:05 trying to make sure everyone was able to hear them. >> we're looking at live pictures right now off the coast of hawaii and those waters remain relatively calm but listening into terry fryar, he said it's not necessarily the earliest waves. it might be the waves that come later. this is an advisory that's going to stay into effect until 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. being a