Governor Abercrombie has signed a State of Disaster Proclamation, the first step in the process of seeking federal funds to recover and rebuild.
Damage from Thursday morning's tsunami is estimated in the millions of dollars.
The Big Island, specifically the west and northwest facing shores suffered the most damage.
These are some of the haunting images we'll remember whenever we talk about the tsunami of March 2011.
"There's about 12 homes we verified have been destroyed or severely damaged,' said Quince Mento, Hawaii County Civil Defense.
This home didn't even have a chance in the battle against Mother Nature.
It was the only one that ended up in Kealakekua Bay.
A car also ended up in the bay; nine cars in all reported to be flooded.
And this is video from Kailua Kona. You can see the water just coming over the sea wall, damaging the road, and flooding the King Kamehameha Hotel.
"And most of the businesses across the street are totally destroyed," said Mento.
The tsunami also caused an estimated $1M in damage to the Kailua Kona pier, as well a damage to the Keauhou landing site, and ancient fishponds in South Kohala.
And Hulihee Palace also had major damage.
"In the basement of Hulihee Palace, where there are artifacts, it was flooded by four feet of water," said Ed Teixeira, Hawaii State Civil Defense.
While the Big Island took the hardest beating, Maui also had damage.
Some boats docked at Maalaea Harbor reportedly sank or were knocked around.
"And there's just a danger to all recreational and commercial traffic at this time," said Cmdr. Jason Neubauer, U.S. Coast Guard.
Lahaina Harbor also had damage, so did the areas of Kahului and Kihei.
"We had water running over the roads in Kihei. There were reports of residential units being flooded over," said Teixeira.
And on Oahu, there were two trouble spots.
Haleiwa Small Boat Harbor suffered an estimated $300,000 in damage.
There's no access to about 20 boats docked there.
A pier the boats were attached to was demolished.
But the biggest damage happened at Keehi Small Boat Harbor, where docks were ripped away with vessels still attached, causing an estimated $1M in public infrastructure damage, and millions of dollars in damage to private owners.
Despite the damage, Governor Abercrombie says Hawaii was lucky.
"The tsunami effects were minimal in terms of the kinds of damage seen elsewhere in the world, particularly in Japan," said Gov. Neil Abercrombie.
Officials say Kauai was the only county that escaped major damage.
