A British woman on a dream cruise shared the terrifying moment tsunami alerts blared across Hawaii, warning passengers they were in “immediate danger.”<\/p>\n
Rachel Burrows, from the UK, was touring Hawaii\u2019s Big Island on July 29 when a powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake near Russia\u2019s Kamchatka Peninsula triggered a tsunami alert. Emergency warnings lit up phones, advising people to flee coastal areas as five-foot waves hit Hawaiian shores.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were heading back to the cruise ship when the alerts started,\u201d Burrows told the BBC. Initially dismissed by their tour guide, panic set in when traffic halted and a local chocolate shop they visited abruptly shut down.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the sirens started going off,\u201d Burrows said. \u201cWe got off the tour bus and everyone was running to get back on the ship.\u201d Her group made it back just before the ship was closed off; others were forced to stay onshore and seek higher ground.<\/p>\n
Though the warning was later downgraded to an advisory, officials urged people to stay out of the water due to ongoing risks. The U.S. and Pacific tsunami centers confirmed no threat to the U.S. West Coast or Canada.<\/p>\n