Honomu residents weren’t the only ones shocked early Wednesday morning when a tsunami warning siren activated near their homes.
Honomu residents weren’t the only ones shocked early Wednesday morning when a tsunami warning siren activated near their homes.
According to Hawaii County Civil Defense, the unintended activation was caused by a lizard, possibly a gecko, climbing into the circuit board and short-circuiting the equipment. The reptile was found and removed Thursday morning.
But it caused more damage than initially anticipated. When repair crews tried to reconnect the equipment, the siren sounded again shortly before 9:30 a.m.
Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira said the crew was likely able to quickly disconnect the siren.
That was a problem Wednesday when it apparently took more than 30 minutes to turn the siren off. The siren activated at about 1:20 a.m., the Hawaii County Police Department said in a statement Thursday. Police dispatchers began using “cancel tones” through radio waves to turn it off.
Oliveira said he also tried to shut it off from the Civil Defense office in Hilo but the siren didn’t acknowledge the tones until shortly after 2 a.m. The siren was expected to be in good working order today after a new circuit board was installed.