Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway has revealed that her friends are currently taking shelter in a rental car after their dream Hawaii holiday turned into a “nightmare” due to the tsunami warnings. Costal parts of Russia and Japan were submerged after an 8.7-magnitude earthquake struck – resulting in two million people across Japan being issued urgent evacuation warnings.

Now, warnings have been sent to those across the east coast of the US and Hawaii following the earthquake, which is said to be the most powerful to hit the world in 14 years.

Good Morning Britain hosts Kate Garraway and Ed Balls were discussing the earthquake warnings on today’s show with contributors Andrew Pearce and Kevin Maguire when Kate revealed her personal connection to the tragedy.

Kate Garraway on GMB with Ed Balls
Andrew said: “Many people from Britain will be out there on their dream holiday to Hawaii and they’re now caught up in an absolute moving nightmare and they don’t know when it’s going to end.”

Kate then replied: “My friends are one of those actually – they’ve been moved inside but because they haven’t got an instant place to go, they’re actually hunkered down as high as they can in their car right now. And they won’t be alone right now, I imagine, all over the area that’s affected.”

Earlier today, Hawaiian and Alaskan Airlines put out a joint statement following the tsunami warnings – revealing that they were grounding their operations to the 50th state.

The statement reads: “We are monitoring a tsunami warning for the Hawaiian Islands and portions of the state of Alaska and assessing our flight operations. We are holding flight departures to the Islands on Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines.

“As a safety precaution, flights en route to Hawai‘i are returning to the mainland or diverting as needed. Guests with travel to, from or within the Hawaiian Islands should check the status of their flight before heading to the airport.

“We are monitoring airport conditions with government agencies and could see operational impacts. A waiver is in place allowing guests to adjust their travel plans. More information can be found on alaskaair.com.”

A locator map shows the epicenter of the quake ( 
Image:
Anadolu via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Hawaii Governor Josh Green revealed that the tsunami waves from peak to trough measure up to six feet and could move cars and throw fences. “It can dislodge trees, that’s why you can’t just be out there,” he said.

“The impact is at great speed. Any any structure that gets loose and strikes the individual could take them out. And people can drown quite easily with the force of that kind of wave.”

While Black Hawk helicopter have been activated and high-water vehicles were ready to rescue people, he added: “But please do not put yourself in harm’s way.”