A powerful 8.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the southern coast of Alaska late Wednesday night, prompting a tsunami warning for parts of the state and a tsunami watch as far as Hawaii. They were lifted within hours.

The earthquake was detected about 75 miles southeast of Chignik, Alaska, about 10:15 p.m. local time, the United States Geological Survey said.

The earthquake was felt throughout the Alaska Peninsula and on Kodiak Island, the Alaska Earthquake Center reported. In Kodiak, tsunami sirens blared and people began moving to higher ground as word of the warning spread.

There were no immediate reports of damage.

The alert issued by the National Tsunami Warning Center was in effect for about two hours across south Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Islands.

A tsunami watch was also briefly issued for Hawaii and canceled a little over an hour later, Gov. David Ige said on Twitter. The National Weather Service office in Beach, Hawaii, had warned that “widespread hazardous tsunami waves are possible,” based on preliminary measurements of the quake. As climate change helps raise sea levels around the world, the threat of flooding from tsunamis has grown more serious.

The earthquake recorded on Wednesday was one of only 17 since 1990 of 8.2 magnitude or higher, according to U.S.G.S. data.

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