The couple moved to Hilo, Hawaii, from Dayton in September. Having grown up in Guam, Michael Kemper was used to the threat of natural disasters, but this was Shelly’s first tsunami scare.
“I was a little scared,” said Kemper, who is 10 weeks pregnant with the couple’s first child. “I was a little concerned.”
Besides the tsunami threat, the couple was also thinking about their personal belongings they could not take with them to higher ground – their pastor’s house in Keaau, which is about eight miles from their own home and 600 feet above sea level.
“We packed our car with all the valuables we could fit,” Shelly Kemper said. The ones that couldn’t fit were either covered or taken off the floor inside their home.
“The main thing we were concerned about was looting,” she said.
The couple also filled their bath tubs with water, in case the water supply became contaminated, before they locked up the windows and the doors of their home, which was three miles from Hilo Bay.
While en route to their pastor’s house, the couple, who met at Cedarville University, noticed the crowds that had formed at gas stations, grocery stores and McDonald’s.
There was no rain and the sun had been shining for most of the day when Kemper spoke to the Dayton Daily News shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday in Hilo and shortly after 7 p.m. in Dayton.
Despite the nice weather, Kemper said, “you could see the tides were coming in and out, alot more rapidly than usual.”
Fortunately, the couple was able to return to their home and unpack by 2:15 p.m. Hawaii time.
“I feel good now,” Kemper said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2414 or kwynn@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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