Damage estimates could climb into the millions of dollars after some of the most powerful earthquakes in decades rocked Big Island residents early yesterday morning.

The 7:07 a.m. and 7:14 a.m. temblors bounced parked cars in Kona, crumbled a home on Manawa Street in Kohala, generated landslides in Hamakua and Kealakekua, collapsed a stretch of Highway 19 in Pa'auilo and cut power to 45,000 customers across the island.

But no serious injuries were reported, and Big Island Mayor Harry Kim, a cool veteran of decades of Hawai'i County emergencies, considered that the best news of the day.

"Any time you have that, you consider yourself lucky," he said.

Civil Defense officials said a survey of emergency rooms on the Big Island turned up about 25 minor injuries, including two people with broken bones.

Still, Kim expected the monetary aftershock to climb as residents get a better handle on what happened.

"When you have these kind of earthquakes, you are going to have a lot of reports that will come later," he said. "If you have an earthquake, a lot of the damages are hidden."

Some damage reports were already available. For example, The Paniolo Club Condominium in Waikoloa sustained structural damage, forcing the evacuation of 60 people.

County Civil Defense officials did not have a good feel for how many hotel guests were evacuated but received reports of damage from several hotels.

The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel closed the eighth floor of the structure and portions of the ocean wing because of structural damage. The hotel was not full, and guests were moved to other parts of the facility.

Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows reported damage after "the structure shifted slightly." Some guests were relocated as a precaution, and a major structural assessment is planned for today.

And Four Seasons Hualalai reported minor damage to 30 to 40 rooms.

Kawaihae Harbor, the only facility for unloading heavy cargo vessels in West Hawai'i, was closed yesterday because of possible structural damage to the harbor pier, the mayor said.

Kim said the situation is "very serious," with divers expected to inspect the damage today.

"So now for this island, we just have the Hilo Harbor, which makes for a commute of over 100 miles, and with a major highway closed at this time, that complicates that problem," he said.

The mayor said some of the patients at Kona Community Hospital were evacuated because of a gas leak, but the problem was solved.

Miles Takaaze, public affairs officer for Hawaii Health Systems Corp., which operates the hospital, said patients were evacuated after ceiling tiles collapsed in the operating room.

It was unclear how serious the structural damage was at the 96-bed facility.

"All our engineers from the state and county are being sent down to evaluate it," Kim said.

Meanwhile, emergency room doctors and nurses moved their operations to a tent outside the hospital.

There were about 70 patients at the Kona hospital when the earthquake struck, said John Halloran, Big Island coordinator of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii. The hospital evacuated 49 patients to the Sheraton Keauhou Convention Center. Six acute-care patients were flown to Hilo Medical Center. The rest were either sent home or were kept at the hospital.

Other medical and care facilities were affected as well.

As a precaution, 49 patients at Hale Ho'ola Hamakua long-term care facility were moved to a recently renovated infirmary just across the parking lot because of flooding due to broken pipes.

The Kohala Hospital in North Kohala was evacuated temporarily as a precaution, but all 27 patients were returned by the end of the day, said Takaaze.

Ken Cutting, disaster action team coordinator for the American Red Cross, said the only other shelter that remained open last night was the Waimea Community Center, which was housing about 16 people.

A lane that collapsed at the 35-mile marker at Pa'auilo, along the Hamakua Coast, severed the major route between the east and west sides of the island. State officials will have to assess the damage before it can be repaired and reopened.

Jiro Sumada, deputy chief engineer for the county department of public works, said county officials were working yesterday to open an emergency road on private property owned by the timber company Forest Solutions.

The upper highway between Waimea and Kailua, Kona — also known as Mamalahoa, or Highway 190 — was limited to one lane because of boulders and debris that spilled on to the road in two locations. But crews were at work clearing the highway.

Power went off across the Big Island about five minutes after the first earthquake, a magnitude 6.6. It was restored to most of the island by midafternoon, except for a stretch between Laupahoehoe and Honoka'a, said Rhea Nakaya, administration manager for Hawaii Electric Light Co.

"Part of the problem is that the road is out, and our large trucks can't pass through," she said.

Holualoa resident Yehudah Plaut was in bed when the first quake violently grabbed hold of his life.

"The room went nuts," said the 57-year-old Konawaena High librarian. "The ceiling was shaking, and the furniture was shaking. The rafters and the roof were moving. The dresser at the front of the bed was jumping up and down."

Plaut and his wife, Aviva, raced outside where they found neighbors "in panic mode."

"Oh yeah, it's scary," Aviva Plaut said. "It's a power much greater than you."

Kona Heavens resident Joel Gimpel, who has lived in Kona for 10 years, said he was just about to get on an exercise bike at a health club in downtown Kailua, Kona, when everything began to shake.

"Wow, the whole building was shaking, some ceiling tiles fell down, and I looked out at the parking lot and the cars were swaying back and forth," Gimpel said.

"It was a good shake. This was the biggest one I have been through."

Gimpel and his wife returned to their home about five miles away to find shattered glassware on the kitchen floor and broken picture glass from frames that had been knocked off the walls throughout the house. Their plasma television had been shaken off a shelf and fell to the floor.

"We had stuff all over the floor; we've been cleaning up," he said.

Ka'u resident Guy Enriquez said the quake was alarming.

"What was real worrisome was the length of it," he said. "Normally you have a slow rumble, and it climaxes and it gives you a big shake, but this just kind of kept on going."

The most destructive earthquake in Hawai'i in recent years was the April 26, 1973, Honomu quake, which measured magnitude 6.2.

That temblor did as much as $60 million in damage to roads, utilities, highways and more than 400 homes and businesses, according to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com and Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.