Waiakea

(Peck, 1938; Parker, 1978)

In 1946 there was a gas station and store at the crossroad next to the bridge, as well as a newly opened café. The café owners, Evelyn and Richard Miyashiro, had started their business in January. Now they were on the bridge with the other Waiakea residents, waiting to see the big waves. There had been other tidal waves before, when the water had risen only a few feet. With the arrival of the first two waves excitement rose among the watchers. The third wave, however, was immense- there was no time to run. The Miyashiro were there when the massive wave swept over the bridge, and, amazingly, they were still there after it had receded. Evelyn Miyashiro, eight months pregnant with her first child, clung to the concrete uprights of the bridge, her husband beside her. Coconut trees were flattened, the building housing the Kitagawa auto dealership collapsed, and the Miyashiro’s café was flooded to a depth of 3 feet – but Evelyn and Richard were still alive!

[ Tsunami! – Walter C. Dudley and Min Lee ]

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