Tsunami produced 3′ waves in O.C.
**************************EXCERPTS**************************
February 27th, 2010, 12:58 am · 103 Comments · posted by Gary Robbins, science writer-editor
Geophysicist Mark Legg of Huntington Beach took this image of small tsunami waves rolling ashore at the mouth of the Santa Ana River. The largest of the waves reached 3 feet in height. There are markings on the photo because it was taken while rain was falling.
Reporting by Gary Robbins, Peter Schelden, Ron Campbell, Cindy Carcamo, Ken Steinhardt, Fred Swegles and Elysse James.
Updated 6:47 p.m.
A magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Chile that literally made the planet vibrate generated a tsunami that produced 3 foot high waves in Orange County 13 hours later, including breakers that hit storm runoff in the Santa Ana River, briefly producing small, frothy rapids.
It was the largest tsunami to hit Orange County since the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964, a 9.2 temblor that produce waves in the 2 foot to 3 foot range.
The tsunami, which traveled about 6,000 miles to get here, led officials to close virtually every beach in Orange County as well as most piers. Newport Beach sent automated phone calls to residents warning them to stay away from the ocean. Parts of Dana Point Harbor were closed. The bait barge in Dana Point Harbor was broken roughly in half. The new $1 billion destroyer USS Dewey was sent out to sea from the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station to avoid being damaged.
And in perhaps the ultimate Orange County moment, some top surfers received citations because they refused to come out of the ocean during the period that the tsunami was adding to wave heights.