WAIMEA — Steve and Carol Hood rode out the earthquakes yesterday morning in Hilo and kind of shrugged off the impact until they heard from their relatives back home in Kohala.

"My brother-in-law called and said 'you need to come home,' " said Carol Hood, a human resources manager at Mauna Kea Resort.

"The inside of my house? Everything is all down."

The couple and their three children, who were in Hilo for a high school volleyball game and stayed over Saturday night, rushed home.

But both routes into Kohala were blocked.

The Honokoa Bridge was chipped and cracked and Akoni Pule Highway had a jagged crack across its width. State Route 250, Kohala Mountain Road, had rocks and other debris.

So the Hoods were stuck for hours on the side of the road with about 100 other motorists who could not get back into Kohala.

"The main thing is nobody got hurt," Hood said before Route 120 finally opened around 6 p.m.

"But I still just want to see my home."

Although there was not much visible damage in West Hawai'i — the part of the island closest to the quakes' epicenters — it was apparent the earth had shaken.

Rocks and boulders had been jarred loose and could be seen along Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway.

Several residents reported interior damage to their homes.

At Kona Community Hospital, ceiling tiles had collapsed in the medical and surgical unit.

Terry Lewis, a hospital spokeswoman, said officials were still assessing the damage but believed the hospital is structurally sound. Dozens of long-term-care patients were moved to the convention center at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa. And six acute-care patients were flown to Hilo, Lewis said.

"The ceiling literally just fell out," Lewis said of one operating room. "It was pretty scary. Thank goodness it was a Sunday morning."

Despite the jolt, power in many places was restored quickly and life seemed normal by early afternoon. Shops and restaurants in Kona were open. People sunbathed and fished along the shore. Triathletes in town for Saturday's Ironman were in the water and along the roads.

Matias Jaramillo of Kona and his buddy Auguste Ackerman went surfing at Lyman's.

"It was a little choppy and it seemed different out there," Jaramillo said of the 2- to 4-foot surf. "It might have done something to the reef because the waves weren't breaking the way they usually do."

Brad White, from Sydney, Australia, got in a swim, a run and a bike ride to get ready for the Ironman.

"I was a bit funny about getting into the water this morning," White said. "But the chances of something bad happening are slim."

Elaine Watai, a co-captain with the American Red Cross, was at home in her apartment in Kealakehe when the quake struck.

"It just shook, rattled and rolled," she said.

Watai was assigned to a shelter at the Kekuaokalani Gymnasium, but no one had shown up by late afternoon. There were some fears that damage to some of the South Kohala resorts would force the evacuation of guests.

Austin Gerard's pregnant girlfriend, Veronica Ishii, woke him up early yesterday and said she was having contractions and might have to go to the hospital.

Gerard, a construction worker who lives in Palisades, asked her for another half-hour of sleep.

But then the house started shaking.

"It started shaking like a washing machine," Gerard said.

By the time the couple got outside the house, Ishii knew she was going into labor.

Gerard and his extended family spent the day outside of Kona Community Hospital in a vigil for the new baby, which would be the couple's first.

"It's a pretty traumatic day, brah," he said.

State Rep. Cindy Evans said she was awake in bed at her home in Waikoloa when the earthquake began to rattle the house.

"It felt like a long time," she said. "People said it was only 15 seconds but it was so intense. And it really shook everything. I ran outside after the first one. All the neighbors had come out and we were talking about how things had broken and fallen off shelves but everybody seemed OK. Then I walked back into the house and then the second one came."

Evans considered herself fortunate.

"I lost some figurines of pottery and stuff that was on shelves but I know some people who like to display glass in their kitchen and I suspect there is a lot of damage."

Kona residents switched on their radios and televisions to try to get news but the electricity went off shortly after the earthquake. Most radio stations went off the air. Residents who were unable to get news relied on family and friends on the Mainland to relay them TV news reports.

Evans said the loss of communication underscores the need for a new emergency radio station on the Big Island that residents can tune to for information when the power goes out.

Reach Derrick DePledge at ddepledge@honoluluadvertiser.com.