A powerful earthquake off Russia’s east coast triggered tsunami waves across the Pacific, prompting alerts in Hawaii and California.

Ports on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia near the 8.8 magnitude quake’s epicenter flooded as residents fled inland, and frothy, white waves washed up to the shore in northern Japan. Cars jammed streets and highways in Hawaii’s capital, with standstill traffic even in areas away from the shoreline.

Alaska communities in the Aleutians were under a tsunami advisory Tuesday after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Kamchatka at about 3:25 p.m. Alaska time.