Oprah Winfrey Insists She Opened Her Private Road in Hawaii Immediately After Tsunami Warnings—and Brands Claims She Refused as ‘False’

Oprah Winfrey has assured fans that she opened up her private road in Hawaii “as soon as” she heard the tsunami warnings, slamming any claims that she waited to help residents evacuate as “false.”

The 71-year-old opened her private road in Maui, Hawaii, to help residents of the town get to safety after a tsunami went off in the area following a huge 8.8-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Russia.

On July 29, massive waves reaching up to 4 feet were recorded off the island of Oahu following the shocking earthquake that left residents scrambling to get to safety, according to the BBC.

Meanwhile, in Kahului, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration revealed that a wave measuring over 5 feet was also reported.

Following the reports, residents in Hawaii and areas of the U.S. West Coast and Japan were told to flee and find safety—a move that the TV tycoon has helped make more feasible by allowing people to pass through her exclusive road.

In a statement shared to CNN, a spokesperson for Winfrey said, “As soon as we heard the tsunami warnings, we contacted local law enforcement and FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] to ensure the road was opened. Any reports otherwise are false. 

“Local law enforcement are currently on site helping residents through 50 cars at a time to ensure everyone’s safety. The road will remain open as long as necessary.”

The assurance from her spokesperson came after fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to claim that the star had yet to open her road and slammed her for “refusing” to open the road.

One social media user said, “People on Maui, Hawaii trying to escape the tsunami are begging Oprah to open her private road to higher ground, and she’s still refusing. Oprah’s road is marked in blue.

“The only other route to higher ground is the red route, and it’s gridlocked. Open the road from Wailea. Maui government should force it open if they have to!”

Despite claims, Winfrey insists the road was open as soon as her team heard the warnings.

And, this isn’t the first time the TV mogul has offered help to the residents of Hawaii.

When the island was ravaged by fires in July 2019, local residents requested access to this road to help with evacuations—access that she insists she gave immediately.

“Access to the road was given to county officials immediately. This was many hours ago. Hoping for the safety of all,” she wrote in a post on X at the time.

Four years later, Winfrey also offered relief to the victims of the Maui wildfires, donating $10 million to help with rescue and rebuilding efforts and providing personal assistance at temporary shelters.

Though initial fears sparked evacuation orders in some areas, both California and Hawaii have thus far reported minimal damage.

Hawaii has begun lifting evacuation advisories, while several alerts in California were downgraded overnight. Officials, however, continue to warn that wave activity may persist throughout the day.

Tsunami alerts went out to cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. In Japan, nearly 2 million people were told to evacuate.

In California, Humboldt and Del Norte counties were under the most serious advisories. The Los Angeles Times reported that in other areas, such as San Francisco and Southern California, waves remained under 2.5 feet.

While tsunamis in California are relatively rare, the entire Pacific coastline is vulnerable. A significant earthquake—especially one involving vertical displacement of the sea floor—can trigger major waves.

“If we had a subduction zone event—that’s where you would have the sea floor being pushed upwards and as a result the water would also be pushed upwards and then flow away from that spot—that’s when you get a tsunami generated,” explained Elizabeth Cochran, a U.S. Geological Survey seismologist, in an interview with LAist.

Winfrey has strong ties to Maui, where she now owns about 1,000 acres.

Her love of the Valley Isle started in 2003, when she purchased two properties in the Kula community, before adding 23 more acres and multiple buildings to the estate for $5.3 million. She’s been a part-time resident ever since.

Multiple reports suggest that her Hawaii property purchase also included a boutique bed-and-breakfast, which is thought to be used by the TV legend to house any guests who visit her while she’s staying there.

Over the decades, she has picked up even more properties in the area, reportedly spending over $40 million on some 163 acres of prime Hawaiian land.

But she didn’t stop there. In March 2023, local news outlet KITV reported that Winfrey had picked up 870 “agriculturally zoned” acres in Kula for about $6.6 million.

She’s said to have built a secret road to her property, making access to the more populated parts of Maui that much easier (for her).

In addition to her Kula holdings, she purchased over 60 acres in the Hana area in 2005.

Winfrey regularly showcases her expansive Hawaii acreage on Instagram, sharing videos of herself tooling around her estate on an all-terrain vehicle or hiking in the area alongside her closest pals, including fellow TV host and best friend Gayle King.

In total, Winfrey’s real estate holdings are estimated to be worth around $158 million.

Her main stateside residence is in the coastal enclave of Montecito, CA, where her neighbors include Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi.