By NBC News staff and news wires
Updated at 5 a.m. ET: Hawaii was bracing itself for a tsunami on Saturday night after an official warning was issued, prompting the evacuation of all low-lying areas in the island state, after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Canada's British Columbia.
"This is obviously a very very dangerous situation," Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle told Hawaii News Now, urging residents to move away from the coastline immediately.
Governor Neil Abercrombie issued an emergency proclamation for the state.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued the alert, saying the first tsunami wave could strike the islands at 10:28 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time (4:28 a.m. ET).
People were told to stay away from the coast, although a live feed from Hawaii News Now showed people milling around on beaches in Honolulu.
External link: List of evacuation centers on Oahu, Hawaii
Vindell Hsu, a geophysicist at the Tsunami Warning Center said an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people who live in Hawaii's coastal zones had been urged to move to higher ground until after 10:30 p.m.
The tsunami center cautioned that wave height could not be predicted and that the first wave "may not be the largest."
It said: "All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face."
The warnings followed a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 that hit Canada's Pacific coastal province of British Columbia late on Saturday.
External link: Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 123 miles south-southwest of Prince Rupert at a depth of 6.2 miles.
The National Weather Service also issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas of British Columbia and southern Alaska. The first wave of the small tsunami, about four inches, hit the southeast Alaska coastal community of Craig.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit the Queen Charlotte Islands just after 8 p.m. local time (11 p.m. ET) Saturday at a depth of about 3 miles and was centered 96 miles south of Masset, British Columbia. It was one of the biggest earthquakes around Canada in decades and was felt across a wide area around British Columbia.
Dennis Sinnott of the Canadian Institute of Ocean Science said a 69 centimeter wave was recorded off Langara Island on the northeast tip of Haida Gwaii, formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands. Another 55 centimeter wave hit Winter Harbour on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.
External link: Live video feed from Hawaii News Now
"It appears to be settling down," he said. "It does not mean we won't get another small wave coming through."
The Earthquakes Canada agency said the quake in the Haida Gwaii region was followed by numerous aftershocks as large as 4.6 and that a small tsunami has been recorded by a deep-ocean pressure sensor.
Hawaii sirens
In Hawaii, tsunami warning sirens could be heard blaring out across Honolulu, the state capital on Oahu, the state's most populous island, prompting an immediate crush of traffic, with many motorists stopping first at service stations to top up with petrol.
At movie theaters, films were halted in mid-screening as announcements were made urging patrons to return to their homes.
Scientists convicted for not predicting quake
The last time Oahu had a tsunami warning was after the devastating Japanese earthquake of March 2011.
On Waikiki Beach, residents of high-rise buildings were told to move to the third floor or higher for safety.
Tsunami Warning Center Geophysicist Gerard Fryer said the tsunami danger had caught scientists by surprise.
"We thought that the earthquake was on land and when we learned that it was deeper undersea and we gathered more information, we had no choice but to issue a warning," he said.
As residents scrambled to reach higher ground on Oahu, at least four major road accidents were reported by the state Emergency Medical Services. More accidents were also reported on the outer islands.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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