Posted at 1:01 p.m., Sunday, October 15, 2006
Governor reports on Big Island damage
Advertiser Staff
Gov. Linda Lingle just returned from a Hawai'i Air National Guard helicopter tour of the Big Island where she saw rocks and earth falling into Kealakekua Bay near the Capt. Cook monument, the evacuation of Kona Community Hospital and boulders that fell on Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway.
"What a blessing," Lingle said, "nobody hurt."
Nearly three and a half hours after the 6.6 magnitude quake hit, Lingle said the "most dramatic" scene was the sight of "boulders and earth falling" into Kealakekua Bay.
There were also reports that a bridge on the highway from Hilo to Waimea had been cracked, Lingle said.
Lingle was in a Kona-area hotel room when the quake hit, causing her heavy, "old-style" television set to fall to the floor.
After she flew back to O'ahu this afternoon, Lingle described the Big Island weather as "very nice."
One benefit to Hawai'i's tourism industry is that most of the Islands' visitors come from California and Japan, Lingle said, two communities that are "as used to this as you can be."
But she added, "it's not something you want to happen."
