Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 4

PAGE 1-C HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN, TUESDAY, MAY 24, 1960 Police Dept. Disaster Plan v. Called Into Action Early i I-s i v. 5 I rrrr" headquarters set tidal wave warning sirem going. Finally, given an estimated time of arrival for the tidal wave the entire police department was alerted and called to duty which ijs set up during disasters on a 24, 12 or 8 hour basis, depending upon cii cumstances.

Patrol cars with special loudspeakers warned residents in coastal areas to leave their hemes and supervised evacuation to disaster centers at Ewa, Niu and Kawailoa schools. Chief Straus, commenting yesterday on the disaster duty of Honolulu police, said two thiTig remain as stumbling blocks in an efficient disaster operation. "People can't seem to learn," he said, "that a time of general emergency is no time to telephone the police and fire departments for information they can get by turning on the radio. It's the time when we need free lines of communication most. "And people have to stay away from coastal and beach areas when tidal waves are reported.

It makes control work that much harder if you have to worry about people flocking to dangerous areas. And for the people it may mean death," Straus said. By HUGH O'NEILL Police procedure, prescribed and ready to meet a disaster situation, went into action 12 hours before Hawaii was battered by tidal waves yesterday. Alerted by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to the possibility of tidal wave action the Honolulu Police Department became Hawaii's central warning and disaster control center.

After the first alert police alerted State and Oahu Civil Defense offices and command level police officers. Police Chief Daniel S. C. Liu and Deputy Chief Arthur. M.

Tarbell set up department headquarters. Assistant Chief Dewey 0. Mookini assumed control of field operations on the entire island of Oahu. Lieutenant Vernon Nunokawa began operation of central control, whose nerve center is a conference telephone hookup with the islands of Hawaii, Maui and Kauai. Assistant Chief Leon Straus and Lieutenant Herbert Cockett began co-ordinating operations with the State Civil Defense Agency at Fort Ruger headquarters, When Civil Defense ordered it 'police Hospitals: Busy and Grim four.

So the dead were laid in rows on the floor of a hospital repair shop, of a storeroom. Here police and civil defense workers came, escorting relatives or friends who might be able to identify the dead. It was slow work getting identifications; at 2 p.m. there were still seven unidentified dead among the 26 who were known to dead at that time. Thomas B.

Vance, adtninis- and a hodgepodge of varied possessions that once were of value to their owners. Star-Bulletin Photo. Jn stricken Hilo, workers tackle the job of clearing away the Iwelter of wave-caused debris: pieces of splintered lumber, twisted sheets of roofing, scattered boxes of merchandise, is went Oahu Was Lucky Bv HARRY WHITTEN HILO, Hawaii, May 24 Hilo Memorial Hospital and its neighbor Puumaile Hospital were two of the places in Hilo where the tragedy, the self-sacrifice, and the hard work of ay disaster came to focus yesterday. Those who were dead on arrival and those seriously injured were taken to Hilo Memorial by ambulance, while those less seriously injured were taken to Puumaile. The ambulances rolled up, and patients, most of whom had been crushed by falling timbers, were examined in the emergency room, taken to the wards.

Throughout the day, friends and relatives with anxious looks on their faces came to inquire. And there was a steady stream of people, often with dazed expressions, also going to certain smaller build trator of. the two hospitals, said calls began to be placed Sunday night for extra doctors, nurses, and technicians, when it became known that a seismic wave was a possibility. But the calls were hardly needed; most of the doctors, nurses, and technicians began reporting for duty voluntarily before the calls reached them. Practically all of the 40 doctors, 75 registered nurses and 116 practical nurses at the two hospitals reported for duty.

In addition, Mrs. Gladys Jacobs, superintendent, and several nurses from Hono-kaa County Hospital drove down to Hilo Memorial to offer their assistance. For about two hours early Monday morning, between 12:30 and 2:30 a.m. Hilo Memorial was plunged into darkness when its power system failed. During that period patients with more serious injuries as well as those with lighter injuries were admitted to Puumaile.

bottom floor of their beach front home and they, too, sought out higher ground. "I've been here since December 21," said Mrs. Cook, whose home is in Wisconsin. "I wouldn't want this to happen very often." Both houses are about leave." After a few hours they returned for the agonizing job of cleaning up silt and drying furniture and clothes. Staff Sergeant and Mrs.

Donald Cook at 91-129 Ewa Beach Road had a similar experience. Water flooded the power source and drove the family to Ewa. "We've been through alerts before," he explained. "But when the third wave struck and came in the house and I heard on the radio that another was on the way, we decided to five feet above the water normally. Other homes in the area escaped the high water.

Elsewhere on Oahu other families told similar stories, although generally there was little serious damage to homes. One of the biggest cleanup jobs faced Mr. and Mrs. J. B.

Blackshear, whose beach front home at 115-B Maunalua Avenue near Kua-pa Pond in the Koko Head section was flooded with Vave Hurls Barge Into Ship at Pier The Lauritzen Line refrigerator ship Egyptian Reefer was smashed at Pier 29 by a barge during the tidal wave yesterday and received about $6,000 damage. The barge tore loose from its Sand Island moorings, at about 3 a.m., and knocked two holes in the stern of the ship, 10 feet above the water-line. Emergency repairs will permit the ship to leave-today, reports said. Many Big Island Maui Landmarks Heavily Damaged by Tidal Waves ings in the lower part of the hospital grounds. Each of the two hospitals had room in its morgues for two persons, or a total of damaged.

King Kamehameha Hotel, damage to kitchen, dining room, grounds. Waiaka Lodge, minor Oahu was lucky Monday morning. But although the Island escaped heavy damage, tidal activity left many housewives and husband gardeners a lot of cleaning to do. At least two Ewa Beach families were mopping up after flood waters flowed ankle-deep into their homes. Elsewhere along beach ironts, water rose and fell throughout Monday, flowing over lawns, strewing debris and uprooting plants.

At Home places it ran onto nearby roads. Navy Aviation Ordnance Man First Class and Mrs. I. S. Shelby evacuated their family to higher ground when water entered their beach front home at 91-129 Ewa Beach Road at 2:30 a.m.

"We had decided it wasn't coming, so we went to bed," explained Mrs. Shelby. "Then I heard a rushing noise. I swung my feet over the bed and splash! "I was frightened. I opened the front door and water rushed in.

Then we evacuated." Before they left, Shelby went through the house pulling out electric appliance plugs. Then he cut the main Kona Inn, damage to Oahu Damage Reaches $17,450 Tidal wave damage estimates on Oahu reached $17,450 at 11:45 a.m. today, said Dewey O. Mookini, Honolulu assistant chief of police. Damage was almost exclusively confined to the Paiko Drive Maunalua area along Kalaniana-ole Highway, Mookini said.

CENTRAL Here's how familiar landmarks on the Big Island and Maui fared in the tidal wave: IIILO New Wailuku bridge, built after the 1946 tidal wave, only slight damage. Hilo Drug and Beamer Hardware, in north business district, water damage only. Standard Drug, south end of Kamehameha Avenue, heavily damaged. Cow Palace on waterfront, left standing but damaged, furnishings and equipment destroyed. Hilo Theatre on waterfront, left standing but interior wrecked.

Pipe organ missing entirely. Naniloa and Hukilau Hotels, extensively damaged, both closed. Liliuokalani park and Japanese garden on Banyan Drive, left in shambles. Wailoa fish market, swept away, leaving only superstructure. Hilo Ironworks, two buildings badly damaged.

Hilo Breakwater, apparently not badly damaged. Port facilities, buildings shaken but not heavily damaged. Heavy damage to goods stored inside. Mooheau Park, one bandstand left standing. Isles Restaurant, favorite teen-age gathering place, swept away.

Senator W. H. Hill's home, south shore of Hilo Bay, un- PACIFIC BANK rooms and grounds. Kona Hukilau, no reported damage. Kailua-Kona pier facilities, damage slight.

MAUI Maui Hukilau Hotel, Ka-hului, flooding damage. Maui Palms Hotel, no damage reported. Kahului Harbor, Kahului Railroad installations, damage; A. and B. Commercial Company, $215,000 damage.

about two feet of water. There wasn't a piece of fur niture in the home left un OFFERS HOME OWNERS A HELPING HAND WITH HOME IMPROVEMENT touched. Water in many cases car ried heavy furniture pieces through the entire house, overturning them into the grey mud covering the floors. LOANS It carried a heavy metal An Old Man and the trunk about 30 feet into the yard. Blackshear's pet dog, who refused to leave the house as the couple hurriedly evacuated, somehow escaped.

"I don't think I could have survived in that water," said Blackshear. "But that dog did somehow," Remodeling andor expansion of any part of your home can be accomplished with CPB financing through low monthly payments In some areas notably the section from Kaneohe to and up to 36 months to pay. Chinaman's Hat on Windward Oahu the ocean was muddy as tidal activity caused a periodic rise and fall throughout yesterday. Other beaches around the Island were beautiful yesterday free of debris and sloping gently into turquoise water. But except for an occasional shell hunter or fisherman, they were deserted.

i BY ALTON SLAGLE He was tiny and weathered and had seen more than 70 years begin. He spoke little English, but he knew how to say: "Me lucky." He was identified only as E. Nakamura. He is a fisherman who daily casts for his livelihood in the deep, 'inky water off Haleiwa. Sunday was the same as any other Sunday for E.

Nakamura until a radio broadcast alerted him and other fishermen along Oahu's Windward shore of an impending tidal wave. He went to his wooden pier Sunday evening and readied his tiny white and orange sampan for a trip seaward. Other fishermen did likewise; the two dozen boats at Haleiwa would be safer at sea. At 2:30 a.m. Monday, E.

Nakamura set out in his boat alone. He had run from high water before, but then had stayed at sea only 30 minutes or an hour. This time, he lay offshore all night. At 6:11 a.m. the all clear sounded, but the old man's troubles weren't over.

He had to maneuver his little craft up the shallow stream, outguessing the water which continued to rise and fall rapidly. Another fisherman, Horace Oka, broke the rudder and shaft on his boat and stranded it on the stream's sandy bottom trying to reach his mooring. So E. Nakamura waited for the right momentwhen the backwash would reverse and the flow to sea. For a short time the stream would be still.

At noon that moment came. And in that moment, E. Nakamura controlling the throttle with a long stick and handling the tiller with one foot steered to his pier. A little woman, her head covered with a shawl, ran alongside as the boat moved in. She had waited anxiously for her husband's return.

"She's happy now," said a fisherman with a smile. E. Nakamura, his boat once more secure, squatted on his haunches, drank a little coffee and poured the remainder over the side. You can modernize your kitchen Re-do your living room Enlarge the patio or lanai add a TV room or den to your home or make a dozen other improvements without any strain on the family budget. See us now! it Victor kiu.

wm I BiiiOT--iiii-i-iit-wyij. jj i 1 1 7v vvW- 'W-W WC-. Tt i- in r-y -T Only One Call To Hilo Police -From Sen. Hill HILO, Hawaii, May 24 The disaster kept things at a slow pace in Hilo last night. Police received only one telephone call between 11 p.m.

and dawn. It was from Senator William H. Hill who is in Oregon. He called for a damage report. His home was not damaged.

Mrs. Hill is at their summer home in Kona. Phone 50-984 Phone 813-308 Phone 992-951 HEAD OFFICE: 50 N. King St. KALIHI BRANCH: 2024 N.

King St. MOILIILI BRANCH: 2615 S. King St. FOUR CONVENIENT OFFICES TO SERVE YOU E. Nakamura comes home.

Star-Bulletin Photo by Nacho Bravo. I KAIMUKI BRANCH: 3465 Waialae Ave. Phone 71 -901.