Tsunami Update (8am)

So here's all I know so far:
I woke up at 6am to the sounds of the emergency sirens going off in town.  They're kinda like the old air raid sirens, in that you can hear them winding up and winding down.  The sound up here is actually very much like the sound as you're sitting on a plane waiting to take off, and the pilot starts putting the flaps down (or whatever they do) and you can hear the gears and hydraulics winding up as it cranks the flaps into place.  The sirens have continued to go off every hour on the hour.  They last 2-3 minutes.
Once hearing the sirens, I actually found a use for Twitter, as I was able to search for "Hilo Alarms" and found the info I needed.
We've had calls from friends and family on other islands, and apparently, there's a mad dash to buy gas and water and food.  Puggy from across the street went to town (I saw him leave at 6), and he said there are crazy lines for gas.
Apart from all of that, they're asking us to stay off of the phones as things progress, and we're getting updates on the radio every 15 minutes or so.  They're evacuating the shorefront, bayfront, and low-lying areas.  The airport was closed with the first warning siren at 6am.  Puggy said they're starting to close down the highways going in and out of town.
Current estimates put the potential wave height at 15 feet, but I'm not sure how they're measuring that, given that there's the potential for sea swell, as well as all of the water that would be sucked out of the bay before the wave arrives.
Bottom line: up here at the farm we are well out of harm's way.  Unfortunately, that also means that we won't be able to see much from this vantage point.  While I can see parts of the coastline from here, I don't think I'll be able to get any photos worth much to share with you.  I'll be spending the morning trying to think of a better location to safely see this from, given that it's basically a once in a lifetime experience.  Plus that would put me in a better position to possibly be of some help, as I'm feeling pretty worthless at the moment.  At any rate, I'll keep you updated as I can, or when I've got more information, and we'll go from there.
Please do not call or text, as the communication lines need to be left open for emergency situations.  I'll check emails while I can, and continue to monitor and update the blog through that.
We have plenty of water, gas, and food here to last quite a while should it come to that, so please don't be concerned.
More later.
C