Tsunami reaches Hawaii after 7.7 earthquake strikes western Canada

An evacuation is seen on Ala Wai Blvd. in Honolulu's Waikiki in Hawaii on Saturday before the arrival of the first tsunami waves.

After barreling across the Pacific Ocean for hours, a tsunami spawned by an earthquake in Canada struck the Hawaiian islands.

Waves between 3 and 7 feet were expected to lash the islands beginning about 10:28 p.m. Saturday (4:28 a.m. Sunday ET), the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

The first waves to hit Honolulu didn't seem much stronger than usual.

But scientists said don't be fooled by the initial waves, which often aren't the biggest.

"It's not just one wave, it's a succession of waves," Gerard Fryer, senior geophysicist at the center, told reporters. "The following waves, I am sure, will be bigger."

But he noted that the tsunami will not be as significant as the devastating quake and tsunami that killed thousands in Japan in March 2011.

Local television showed images of bumper-to-bumper traffic on roads leading from the coast to inner ground. About 80,000 people live in evacuations zones in the island of Oahu, the island where Honolulu is located.