A magnitude-7.7 earthquake that hit western Canada over the weekend prompted Hawaii to issue a tsunami warning before it downgraded the warning late Sunday.
Some 100,000 Hawaiians fled the shore to higher ground Saturday night, but the evacuation order was later dismissed, reported Reuters.
“The tsunami arrived about when we expected it should,” senior geophysicist Gerard Fryer told reporters at a news conference, adding, “I was expecting it to be a little bigger.”
A number of businesses were shut down, and the rush to higher ground snarled traffic, reported CNN.
Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle said on Sunday that people who were forced to leave their homes could return, reported Hawaii News Now.
“It started off where it might be a 3-foot wave, and it kept getting downgraded,” Dennis Watson, mayor of the town of Craig, Alaska, told the Los Angeles Times. “And the last time we heard, it was less than 1 foot.”
The quake struck off British Columbia, but there were no reports of major damage. Some residents of the province were evacuated.
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