Canada quake triggers Hawaii tsunami scare Cars are seen on Ala Wai Blvd. in Honolulu's Waikiki in Hawaii on Saturday before the arrival of the first tsunami waves. NEW: the largest wave was about 2.5 feet above ambient sea level NEW: Tsunami advisory lifted Hawaii evacuations are lifted The tsunami was caused by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake in western Canada (CNN) -- A tsunami warning for Hawaii, triggered by a powerful earthquake in Canada, proved nothing more than a pre-Halloween scare for thousands of people this weekend. "The tourists are doing their best Chicken Little impressions," one CNN iReporter in West Maui, Hawaii, wrote early Sunday. Sirens announced the tsunami warning across Hawaii on Saturday night, as thousands of revelers packed streets in Honolulu for the annual Hallowbaloo festival and many others in costumes headed to Halloween parties. Restaurants, clubs and the festival immediately shut down and the parties turned into bumper-to-bumper traffic jams as residents headed to higher ground. Visions of the devastating quake and tsunami that killed thousands in Japan in March 2011 fueled the fright, but the waves proved to be smaller and less powerful than feared. While the warning said waves could surge between 3 and 6 feet, the largest wave, measured in Kahului on the island of Maui, was about 2.5 feet above ambient sea level, according to Gerard Fryer, senior geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The evacuation orders for coastal residents and the tsunami warning were canceled by 1 a.m. in Hawaii (7 a.m. ET) and a tsunami advisory was put in its place. That advisory was lifted three hours later. Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle said early Sunday that people who had evacuated could return to their homes. CNN affiliate Hawaii News Now reported that was also the case for coastal residents in various parts of the state. Earlier, local television showed images of bumper-to-bumper traffic on roads leading from the coast to higher ground. About 80,000 people live in evacuation zones on the island of Oahu, where Honolulu is located. The tsunami was spawned by a sizable earthquake in western British Columbia, prompting a local tsunami warning. Canadians as far away as Prince Rupert, on mainland British Columbia, felt the quake. Tanya Simonds said she felt as if her house was "sliding back and forth on mud," but didn't see any damage from the tremor. Thousands of miles across the Pacific, residents in Hawaii did the same. CNN's Joe Sutton, Jake Carpenter, Chandler Friedman and Maggie Schneider contributed to this report.