THE first waves of a tsunami hitting Hawaii on Saturday night (Sunday Australian time) were smaller than expected nearly three hours after evacuations were ordered for coastal areas threatened after a powerful earthquake off the coast of Canada.
A geologist tracking for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, Gerard Fryer, said the largest wave in the first 45 minutes of the tsunami was measured at 1.5 metres in Maui.
The first waves to hit Hawaii at 10.28pm on Saturday (1928 AEDT Sunday) were smaller than expected, the centre said. A wave of up to two metres had been predicted, as tens of thousands fled coastal areas.
"We expect more waves to follow, and that can go on for hours," Victor Sardina, a spokesman for the warning centre told DPA.
Along the coast of northern California and south Oregon a 67cm-high wave was recorded, he said.
The measurement was taken at Arena Cove. There were no immediate reports of damage.
Initially, officials said Hawaii wasn't in any danger of a tsunami after the 7.7-magnitude earthquake rattled the western coast of Canada.
However residents were later advised to evacuate coastal areas, with warning sirens sounding across the islands.
Residents were fleeing inland, causing traffic chaos in Honolulu, media reports said.
Broadcaster CNN said Honolulu mayor Peter Carlisle called on residents to leave their cars, find a building and make their way to the highest floors. The situation was "very, very dangerous", he said.
About 80,000 people live in the evacuation zone in Oahu, where Honolulu is located.
"It's not just one wave, it's a succession of waves," Fryer was quoted as saying by CNN.
"The following waves, I am sure, will be bigger."
The centre had said the tsunami waves could wrap around the islands so all shores were at risk.
The warning was issued after the earthquake struck off the Queen Charlotte Islands late on Saturday (Sunday AEDT).
Hawaiian officials were adamant that timely warnings were about all they would be able to do, and execution of evacuation plans depended on individuals themselves.
"We have done everything we can to get the information out," Carlisle said.
"Everybody is getting out. You can't rely on the police because they are being pulled out, too."
Fryer said quakes exceeding magnitude 7.0 should not be taken lightly.
"A 7.7 is a big, hefty earthquake. It's not something you can ignore," said the geophysicist.
He said it had struck partly under an island, but mostly under shallow water.
"I think we have to be thankful it happened where it did," Fryer said. "If that were a heavily populated area, it would have caused significant damage."
The earthquake reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released.
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