Posted on 11/16/2006 2:26:17 PM PST by blam
Tsunamis Slap Hawaii, Calif. North Coast
Thursday November 16, 2006 10:01 PM
By AUDREY McAVOY
Associated Press Writer
HONOLULU (AP) - Tsunamis generated by a major earthquake near Japan left behind little damage but offered a legitimate test of international warning systems.
The waves, some measuring a few feet high, struck Hawaii shores Wednesday, slightly injuring one swimmer and temporarily flooding a harbor. A surge along California's northern coast destroyed two docks in Crescent City Harbor and damaged a third.
The waves hit Hawaii about six hours after a magnitude 8.1 earthquake struck north of Japan. Tsunami warnings were issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which reported that its system of sending alerts functioned properly.
``It went very smoothly, and there weren't any major problems at all,'' said Brian Shiro, a geophysicist at the center. ``We issued a warning for 1,000 kilometers surrounding the earthquake and an advisory for the rest of the Pacific Ocean.''
The alerts were canceled once the center received further information that showed the tsunami was going to be small, he said. The center canceled the tsunami watch for Hawaii when it became clear the waves were unlikely to top one meter, or about 3.3 feet.
But local civil defense authorities still warned people to stay out of the water and to exercise caution near harbors, given the possibility the earthquake would generate unusual currents around Hawaii.
A woman swimming at Waikiki suffered cuts when she was sucked through an opening in a seawall as the water receded just before the swells arrived. She was otherwise fine, said John Cummings, a spokesman for Oahu Civil Defense.
On Kauai, a 2-foot swell flooded a parking lot at Nawiliwili Harbor. No serious damage was reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Ernest, did you get slapped?
My job for the National Ocean Service was actually fun last night when I saw all those water levels start jumping about on our Tides Online website.
Probably got b!tch-slapped!
Crescent City harbor suffers up to $700K in damages from tsunami (California)
Why did Crescent City get higher waves than Japan did?
I checked out the times on this happening and it appears that this incident happened 12 hours after the earthquake. Does anyone know if this makes this sounds plausible? Twelve hours after the earthquake seems like an awful long time before a tsunami hits.
Isn't this the same town that evacuated during a tsunami alert last year?
I live on my boat in Alaska and the storm winds have been constant for a week. I wouldn't have noticed a "surge" amidst the rest of the "slapping around" I've been getting.
We got 'slapped' around a bit here on the Gulf Coast yesterday too. Some people further east were killed from the same storm.
Tsunamis are beamed out perpendicular to the fault that ruptures, generally. The fault runs SW to NE. Japan is SW of the end of fault, and thus missed the highest part of the tsunami.
Crescent City, however, was right in the middle of the eastern "beam" of the Tsunami.
Also, the ocean bottom near Crescent City focuses and amplifies Tsunami waves, which is why they're always hit much, much harder than anywhere else on the US West Coast.
That's the actual travel time for a tsunami from the Kuril Islands to California. It's a long way.
I agree it's a long way but it hit Hawaii 6 hours after the earthquake.
I'd have to look at the precise time of the impact which isn't in this article - it may have been less than 12 hours....
There's nothing about the Crescent City story that seems fishy at all though really.
Not sure,...lets ping tubebender and ask him...he lives up that way.
Tubebender .... please see post #9 for a question.
" The Tsunami of 1700 left several inches of sediment in the harbor. That was from a great quake on the Cascadia Fault that ruptures every 300 years or so..."
The 1700 quake/tsunami was confirmed by tsunami records kept in Japan.
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