Ysleta High Cheerleaders In Path Of Tsunami, Former KVIA Employee Worries For Brother

Early Friday morning, ABC-7 received a handwritten fax from a mother at Ysleta High School.

Her concern: the school’s cheerleading team is currently taking part in a competition in Hawaii.

The tsunami that resulted from Japan’s magnitude 8.9 earthquake hit Hawaii before dawn Friday, with most damage coming on the Big Island. The waves covered beachfront roads and rushed into hotels.

One house was picked up and carried out to sea. Low-lying areas in Maui were flooded by 7-foot waves.

A YISD district official told ABC-7 all the Ysleta High cheerleaders are safe and the students have since been in touch with their families.

There was concern at El Paso’s opera, too. One of the star singers in town for this weekend’s performances of “Madama Butterly,” Mika Shigematsu, is originally from Japan.

Shigematsu declined an interview with KVIA but an opera officials said her family is safe, as well.

Family was also the worry for former ABC-7 Meteorologist Andrew Chung, now working in Austin. Friday morning, Andrew couldn’t get in touch with his brother, Daniel.

Daniel teaches English in Mito, Japan, centered between Tokyo and the earthquake’s epicenter.

“Power’s got to be knocked out in many places around Tokyo,” Andrew speculated Friday. “People probably don’t have access to internet or phones.”

Late in the afternoon, Andrew called ABC-7 and said his father had reached Daniel.