Tsunami Survivor Story

On April 1, 1946, Sam remembers that he was with friends on the Waiākea bridge when they saw the water suddenly sucked out to sea. "Then we heard this rumbling from outside, and I'm telling you that was one of the most frightening things I've ever seen. Was these huge waves coming in. All we did was turn around and run... And all you could hear was this crackling sound behind us. You would hear crack, crack, the buildings were piling up in the back of us." Although Shinmachi and Waiākea were heavily damaged, the Bishaw home was undamaged, protected by the rubble of other buildings.