Tsunami Sweeps At Least 5 Away to Sea in Ore., Calif. — Destroys Harbors
- Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:13pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Crescent City, Calif. (The Blaze/AP) — A tsunami swept at least five people watching the waves out to sea Friday and ripped docks out of harbors in California, spreading the destruction of a devastating Japanese earthquake to the shores of the United States.
Four people were rescued from the water in Oregon, but one man who was taking photos in Northern California was still missing Friday afternoon. Coast Guard helicopters searched for him near the mouth of the Klamath River in Del Norte County, Calif., after his two friends made it back to shore.
About 25 miles north, four people were swept off a beach north of Brookings, Ore. Two got out of the water on their own and the others were rescued by law enforcement and fire officials.
A man was found dead aboard a commercial vessel in Brookings, but sheriff’s officials said it appeared to be from natural causes.
The large waves shook loose boats in that weren’t moved in time and tore apart wooden docks in at least two California harbors.
“This is just devastating. I never thought I’d see this again,” said Ted Scott, a retired mill worker who lived in Crescent City when a 1964 tsunami killed 17 people on the West Coast, including 11 in his town. “I watched the docks bust apart. It buckled like a graham cracker.”
The waves didn’t make it over a 20-foot break wall protecting the rest of the city, and no home damage was immediately reported.
Damage estimates in Crescent City were in the millions, and more boats and docks were hit in Santa Cruz on California’s central coast. Surges are expected throughout the afternoon.
“The harbor has been destroyed,” Crescent City Councilman Rich Enea told KTVL. “Thirty-five boats have been crushed and the harbor has major damage. Major damage.”
President Barack Obama said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is ready to come to the aid of any U.S. states or territories who need help.
Earlier, the tsunami hit Hawaii before dawn, rushing up on roadways and into hotel lobbies on the Big Island and low-lying areas in Maui were flooded as 7-foot waves crashed ashore.
Scientists warned that the first tsunami waves are not always the strongest, and officials said people in Hawaii and along the West Coast should remain vigilant. Tsunami warnings continued in California and Oregon, but were downgraded to an advisory in Hawaii, and Gov. Neil Abercrombie said the islands were “fortunate almost beyond words.”
“All of us had that feeling that Hawaii was just the most blessed place on the face of the Earth today,” he said.
The tsunami, spawned by an 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan, killed hundreds as it slammed the eastern coast of Japan, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. It raced across the Pacific at 500 mph – as fast as a jetliner – before hitting Hawaii and the West Coast. Sirens sounded for hours on the islands and the West Coast before dawn and roadways and beaches were mostly empty as the tsunami struck.
It is the second time in a little over a year that Hawaii and the U.S. West coast faced the threat of a massive tsunami. A magnitude-8.8 earthquake in Chile spawned warnings on Feb. 27, 2010, but the waves were much smaller than predicted and did little damage.
Scientists then acknowledged they overstated the threat but defended their actions, saying they took the proper steps and learned the lessons of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami that killed thousands of people who didn’t get enough warning.
This time around, the warning went out within 10 minutes of the earthquake in Japan, said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Honolulu.
“We called this right. This evacuation was necessary,” Fryer said. “There’s absolutely no question, this was the right thing to do,” he said.
The warnings issued by the tsunami center covered an area stretching the entire western coast of the United States and Canada from the Mexican border to Chignik Bay in Alaska.
Many islands in the Pacific evacuated, but officials later told residents to go home because the waves weren’t as bad as expected.
In Guam, the waves broke two U.S. Navy submarines from their moorings, but tug boats corralled the subs and brought them back to their pier. No damage was reported to Navy ships in Hawaii.
In the Canadian pacific coast province of British Columbia, authorities evacuated marinas, beaches and other areas.
Officials in two coastal Washington counties used an automated phone alert system, phoning residents on the coast and in low-lying areas and asking them to move to higher ground.
“We certainly don’t want to cry wolf,” said Sheriff Scott Johnson of Washington’s Pacific County. “We just have to hope we’re doing the right thing based on our information. We don’t want to be wrong and have people hurt or killed.
In Oregon, hotels were evacuated and shops stayed shuttered in the northwest tourist town of Seaside, where arcades, salt-water taffy shops and seafood restaurants line a beachfront boardwalk.
Large waves didn’t materialize, and by noon coastal residents were expected to be able to return home.
“We weren’t really worried about it,” said Erik Bergman, whose roommate woke him early Friday.
Latin American governments ordered islanders and coastal residents to head for higher ground. Coastal officials from Mexico to Chile were hauling boats from the sea, closing ports and schools and preparing to evacuate thousands of people ahead of the tsunami’s expected arrival at 5 p.m. EST.
Heavy swells rolled through ports and marinas of Mexico’s Baja California resort of Cab San Lucas, and the major Pacific cargo port of Manzanillo was closed. Several cargo ships and a cruise ship decided to wait out a possible tsunami at sea rather than risk possible damage in a harbor.
The Honolulu International Airport remained open but seven or eight jets bound for Hawaii turned around, including some originating from Japan, the state Department of Transportation said. All harbors were closed and vessels were ordered to leave the harbor.
About 70 percent of Hawaii’s 1.4 million population resides in Honolulu, and as many as 100,000 tourists are in the city on any given day.
A small 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Big Island just before 5 a.m. EST, but there were no reports of damages and the quake likely wasn’t related to the much larger one in Japan, the USGS said.
The worst big wave to strike the U.S. was a 1946 tsunami caused by a magnitude of 8.1 earthquake near Unimak Islands, Alaska, that killed 165 people, mostly in Hawaii. In 1960, a magnitude 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile caused a tsunami that killed at least 1,716 people, including 61 people in Hilo. It also destroyed most of that city’s downtown. On the U.S. mainland, a 1964 tsunami from a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Prince William Sound, Alaska, struck Washington State, Oregon and California. It killed 128 people, including 11 in Crescent City, Calif.
–
Associated Press Writers contributing to this report include Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Denise Petski and Daisy Nguyen in Los Angeles, Garance Burke in San Francisco, Kathy McCarthy in Seattle, Nigel Duara in Seaside, Ore., Jeff Barnard in Crescent City, Calif., Rob Gillies in Toronto, Alicia Chang in Pasadena, Calif., Michelle Price and Carson Walker in Phoenix. Niesse contributed from Ewa Beach, Hawaii.
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Comments (80)
S_Malc13
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:19pmFEMA on standby…hmmmm.
Report Post »Faith Hope Charity
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:14pmThis hits home literally! I know personally those who lives will never be the same. We really don’t have a clue until it hits home. Many Prayers going out today.
Report Post »RingADingDing
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:14pmHave you noticed that the Japanese aren’t looting and raping like they did in Haiti?
Report Post »Steel Awesome
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 8:06pmI was thinking the same thing. Can you imagine an earthquake hitting LA? Hell, the National Guard from California and all bordering states would have to be called in to try to quell the rioting.
Report Post »shnakebite
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:03pmwonderful, how many billions will Obama give them to rebuild their houses on the edge of a large Ocean when his buddy AL GORE has already explained that this will become more common?
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:02pmDid Pelosi’s rats make out okay?
Report Post »conservativeme
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:01pmWith all the warnings? Swept out to sea? Can you spell D-A-R-W-I-N ???
Report Post »NOTYERHUCKLEBERRY
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 6:55pmWhat makes you think that God or allah did it? It was Atlas and he just shrugged!
Report Post »mikiegro
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 6:23pmWonder what persons on the right will get the blame for this act of god?
Report Post »ISLAMICO
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 6:18pmTsunami = Allah’s punishment towards his ungrateful slaves.
Praise be to Allah who send his punishment as he wills now you cant blame Muslims for it.
mary12153
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:24pmNo, God just saved many dupes from becoming Islamic slaves
Report Post »jackact
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 6:17pmGodzilla!!!…..
Report Post »rdk
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:54pmHardly ravaged. Lets have a little proportionate reporting here.
Report Post »GetUpOnTheWheel
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:39pmHow long before the first nutcase comes out and earnestly proclaims this is a result of “Global Warming/Climate Change”?
Report Post »JustJP
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:15pmtext “Red Cross” to 90999
Help them people
It only costs 10 bucks
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 6:15pmi dont give ny money to the red cross…………………..there are better organizations
Report Post »MickyD
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:10pmDarn global warming
Report Post »mdlwoods
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:09pmCalifornia better be aware that they are included in the “ring of fire” where earthquakes happen more often than anywhere else on earth … first Haiti, then New Zealand, now Japan…next California?? Maybe we can get all the Conservative in CA to move inland and let the New Island of CA just float away with all the liberals and Hellywood idiots!
Report Post »NFYRx
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:40pmWe are all pretty much inland already. I am currently building a dock and picking out a boat. As they say…be prepared.
Report Post »dumbblond
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:09pmThe New Madrid fault runs through N Ark . They’ve been having alot of quakes . Family members there say they couldn’t feel them at first, but the last 2 rattled the dishes
Report Post »sbleve
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:58pmAnd to think that man in his quest for truth has found not but the same. 1964 Tsunami that kissed Crescent City did about the same. Critical thinking – decision evolution has not improved in the past 47 years. We will continue our current path as long as we believe not in the history of past but in our own importance.
A sad day for those lost souls. Would a law forbidding the opportunity to view a tsunami be dusty and out dated in 47 years? Or, would those wanting to view up close not be of mind to make a critical thought decision on their own?
Report Post »mary12153
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:20pmI’m all in favor of gene pool cleansing.
Report Post »JD Carp
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:49pmThe GOP is responsible! The Bush administration’s policies have once again resultedd in disaster. Of course Palin, Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity contributed heavily. Women, children and minorities hit hardest.
Report Post »commonsenseguy
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:45pmi just wonder how long it will take for the left to blame the teaparty??
Report Post »dmforman
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 11:14pmBlaming Global Warming instead. Never thought Plate tectonics had anything to do with global warming.
Report Post »Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:41pmMore natural disasters by the month, mankind rioting and being uncivil around the world. Food and energy prices getting higher. I am waiting for the false messiahs, next, then the rapture, then tribulation. I hope to not be here for that last part.
Report Post »powedj
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:38pmThis event could be God’s giant toilet about to flush out the liberals in California.
Report Post »sbleve
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:47pmThe hope of the San Andreas to partially find the truth.
Report Post »RECOVERING-LIBERAL-IN-WOODSIDE-CA
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:31pmUnkind words…. there are many good people out of the 38 million here. Why would you wish death and destruction on Americans? The San Andreas fault passes thru my town….. pretty conservative here.
Report Post »Pray for yourself as well as Japan.
Hephzibah
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:38pm“Stupid is as stupid does.”
Report Post »Blackhawk1
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:30pmSurfers?
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:19pmPeople thinks that mother nature is just joking .
Report Post »Cabo King
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:17pmoh boy here comes a tsunami, lets go down to the water and take some pictures!!! dumb arses
GeneralBeasley
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:21pmMabey it will clean the Libs out of Cali, a good rinse followed by a scrub……..and repeat.
ilovetheusa1
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:22pmhaha, they sure are getting a close look now.
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:35pmAbout as smart as the surfers in FL going out during a hurricane but it happens.
Report Post »GONESURFING
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:38pmEarthquakes and tsunamis are nothing to fool around with. God is shaking everything that can be shaken, and those who can not be shaken will remain. Pray for Japan.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:45pmThose boats were a bunch of Rust Buckets. Haven’t seen a pail of paint for years.
Warphead
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:45pmIt’ll just give them something else to blame on global warming, oil drilling, deforestation, the ozone layer, George Bush, and on and on and on and on.
Report Post »Phantom2487
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:46pmNatural selection…
Report Post »CatB
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:47pmlol .. Grandma .. correct .. the only thing “dumber” are the weather guys standing out in it! If I see Jim Cantore anywhere near me .. I will evacuate!
Report Post »stifroc
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 4:47pmWonder if there will be any wrongful death lawsuits filed.
Report Post »Thatsitivehadenough
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:09pmWhy am I not surprised? Aren’t there always idiots who are not capable of understanding the warnings? A stupid, avoidable tragedy.
Report Post »Parnell3rd
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:29pmI know! Did the not see the early devastation in Japan?
Report Post »GONESURFING
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:31pmGRANDMA, unlike tsunamis, hurricane swells are more like normal waves and can be very good surfing, but before the actual hurricane arrives be sure to get out of the water and go home or to a shelter.
Pray for Japan, and help if you can.
Report Post »Awakened One
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:32pmYet another candidate for the Darwin Awards. What next, taking pictures of an on-coming train from the center of the RR tracks?
Report Post »Rev. WC
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 5:58pm@grandmaof5
Hey, I surfed Cali when the hurricane waves from Mexico hit and my son has surfed the hurricane waves in Florida! It is fun!!! Apples don’t fall far from the tree! My Prayers for Japan!
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 6:10pm@Cabo King
I seen footage of a tsunami hitting Hawaii in the late 1960s after a Alaskan quake happened in which people are seen going down to the shore, along with the cameraman awaiting the wave to come in; there is no limit to human foolishness.
Report Post »jhaydeng
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 6:55pmI think God will one day pop the world like a pimple!!
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 7:15pmI‘m certain there’s a guy who did that once.
Report Post »El Jefe
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 8:04pmHa, ha, taking pictures of the tsunami, hilarious…
Report Post »psycodad36
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 8:16pmNature Happens.
Report Post »avenger
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 8:22pmit is good for the gene pool…less lib morons…
UpInTheWoods
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 8:37pm13th IMAM; How INCREDIBLY IGNORANT OF YOU! Those rust buckets where what REAL small business fishermen use to MAKE A LIVING. They can barely scrape by to make a living; let alone to afford the paint so their boats look pretty to the likes of YOU!!!
Report Post »barrynmooch
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 9:45pmLol…My thought exactly…like those idiots getting captured by Pirates. Don’t go there it is dangerous…don’t go there…stay away..it is not safe…don’t go there…UGH…they went there and now they are dead…go figure.
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 9:55pmThe CO2 is crushing the earth and making it crack……..if only you had walked to work today
Report Post »Xcori8r
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 10:20pmYou know when go down to the water to check out the tsunami and you get swamped by the wave and drug out to sea?
I hate when that happens.
Report Post »My Sacred Honor
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 11:42pmWhat sucks is that many will see these urgent warnings as a “cry wolf” situation and ignore them in the future. Maybe darwinism will be at play.
Report Post »The authorities did what must be done. Science like this is unpredictable at best, and folks living on coastland should take their blessings of living there with the knowlege that it could get real bad, real fast, and heed all warnings such as these.
Folks, if you were warned to evacuate and nothing bad happened, never ever ignore those warnings in the future.
For your own sake and for the sakes of your family.
My Sacred Honor
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 11:49pmI am stunned by the comments here. I suggested “darwinism” for those who choose to ignore warnings in the future, but you are making fun of those who died trying to do what they do….be a photo-journalist. Those who died giving us pictures of the event are NOT to be ridiculed, but rather commended like a Marine on the field of battle. They gave their lives trying to give you all what you want. A first-hand seat at the event while safely sitting behind your computer screens inland.
Report Post »You who ridiculed those brave men and women should be ashamed.
ALL of you.
My Sacred Honor
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 11:51pmUpInTheWoods
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 8:37pm
13th IMAM; How INCREDIBLY IGNORANT OF YOU! Those rust buckets where what REAL small business fishermen use to MAKE A LIVING. They can barely scrape by to make a living; let alone to afford the paint so their boats look pretty to the likes of YOU!!!
A-effing-men!
Report Post »My Sacred Honor
Posted on March 11, 2011 at 11:59pmI just got through reading all your posts and i am sickened. Some want the “left coast’ to be cleansed of all liberals, some call out in joy at “darwinism cleansing’….you all make me want to vomit.
Report Post »Are you Americans? Do you not cry out when Americans are in harm’s way? I don’t care WHAT their political bent is, their minds can be swayed, but their lives can NOT be taken back. i am so furious at you all for your posts, wish to GOD the blaze would let me post the words i want to type for you all.
Be ashamed. Be so damned ashamed for yourselves.
You embarrass me as an American and as a Marine.
And to think, I defended your rights to say these things.
May God forgive you, cuz I sure as hell don’t.
Freetospeakurmind
Posted on March 12, 2011 at 1:25amCan you say “Darwin Award”!! :D
Report Post »My Sacred Honor
Posted on March 12, 2011 at 1:33amAnd besides “FREETOSPEAK’, oh how you all have shut your mouths. Now go pray about what you have said and repent. For you speak of what satan would have on Earth.
Report Post »Freetospeakurmind
Posted on March 12, 2011 at 2:05am@ My sacred honor, You have no honor! I am talking about a few idiots that said, “tsunami, let’s go take a look!!” Meanwhile, sirens in the background, all over the west coast! “Photo journalist” or not, they are idiots for trying to cheat mother nature. I have no sympathy or empathy for any journalist who puts themselves in harms way and then hear ppl boo hoo about their injuries or deaths!! They choose what they do. I live on with or without a photo or story! ;)
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on March 12, 2011 at 8:41amCATB, that’s the truth! They couldn’t pay me enough, but hopefully they have good health and life insurance. I have seen rooves blown off of buildings and those dummies have to run for their lives.
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