On Wednesday, November 15, 2006 at 11:14:16 (UTC) a large (Mw = 8.3) earthquake occurred on the Kuril Islands Subduction Zone. The event caused a Pacific wide tsunami which was expected to reach Japan in 64 minutes and California in 8 hours and 20 minutes.
The first wave arrived at Hanasaki, Hokaido with an amplitude of 30 cm. After the observation of this minor tsunami in Japan, a large tsunami was not expected in Alaska or along the US west coast.
However, around 11 am PST, the Crescent City, California Harbor Control and Emergency offices received a warning for possible strong tsunami surges which were expected to arrive around 11:30 am. Because the tsunami effect was expected to be relatively minor, a full evacuation was not ordered, but rather targeted verbal warnings were issued for people in the harbor. Mr. Erik Macee from the fishing vessel 'Resolution' confirmed that he was warned by the harbor control at around 11:10 am.
The first wave arrived as expected but it was not noticed by the harbor control. Mr. Macee said he was in his boat when he first noticed the withdrawal. He was able to watch the tsunami from his boat looking at the water elevation change at the piling and breakwater.
The tsunami surges did not cause any damage until after 2 pm. Mr. Macee said the largest waves arrived around 2 or 2:30 pm. The second in the series of larger waves did the most damage when mooring lines from vessels berthed at Dock H were severed. Dock H had three boats, including the biggest boat in the harbor, 'Delana'. The 'Delana' was connected directly to the piling, while the other two vessels were connected to the exposed dock. The dock could not resist the strong current and the pull coming from the boats and failed
The current was so strong, harbor facilities manager Pual McAndrews reported that a white buoy at the entrance of the harbor was buried under water as the current flowed out of the harbor. He also noted that harbor seals and sea lions were not able to swim against the current.