Crescent City 'surprised' by tsunami

Crescent City. Chronicle Graphic Crescent City. Chronicle Graphic Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Crescent City 'surprised' by tsunami 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

2006-11-16 11:21:00 PST CRESCENT CITY -- Government officials said today that the Pacific Coast tsunami warning system worked exactly as it should Wednesday, when strong surges hit this small Northern California port city.

But harbor officials in Crescent City said this morning that they were caught by surprise by Wednesday's tsunami, even though the National Weather Service had had notified them of the possibility about two hours earlier.

"We were surprised," said Richard Young, harbormaster of the small Northern California fishing port's harbor. "I don't know if it's our fault or their fault but we need to get tied into the warning system better, we had that one warning in the morning but we didn't know about the warnings in the afternoon."

Troy Nicolini, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Weather Service, said the government has to balance the need to prepare people with the consideration that the public will ignore their warnings if they are sent out too often. In June, his agency notified the entire West Coast of the possibility of a tsunami, following a earthquake off the coast of Eureka; that was a mistake, he said.

Overall, Nicolini said, officials believe the system worked well on Wednesday.

"The one think I wish we did differently was really stress how long this could last, but overall I think the notification went well," he said. "It's the cry wolf system; it's something we wrestle with all the time."

Locals aren't convinced.

Young said he received a warning at about 11 a.m. of the possibility of a tsunami around 11:40 a.m., when the National Weather Service reported a possible 3- to 5-foot surge resulting from an 8.1 magnitude quake near Japan.

Young said harbor officials went down and told people to tie up their boats, but nothing happened so they assumed the danger was over. Harbor facilities manager Paul McAndrews said he and Young were finishing lunch in the harbor office around 1 p.m. when they looked outside and saw a sudden surge.

"We ran out and started securing boats, but the waves got bigger and started coming over docks so we got worried," said Young, who said a dozen or more boats broke lose during the surges.

"We were looking over at the end of the jetty," McAndrews added. "I thought it was bad when I saw the seals try to swim out, then they gave up and came back into harbor. It just started getting bigger and bigger and stronger and stronger."

The surges, which were a little larger than three feet at their peak, continued until about 7 p.m., Young said.

Nicolini said initial reports put the surges at between five to six feet, but they actually were smaller. The surges look larger, he explained, because all of the water is sucked out between surges.

This morning, most of the boats were secure but the harbor was still in a state of disarray, with debris floating in the water and one sail boat still sitting on top of a pier, where it was knocked on Wednesday. Big chunks of concrete were broken off portions of the dock, and barnacles were visible on the bottoms of pieces of pier that had been tossed upside down by the surges.

Young estimated the damage to the docks and boats at around $700,000.

Crescent City residents are particularly sensitive to tsunami threats. The town was struck by a 21-foot-high tsunami in 1964 that killed 11 people and destroyed most of the town center.

Bill Steven, a commander with the Del Norte County Sheriff's Department, said the surges came at a particularly inopportune time for the close-knit, isolated fishing community.

"Everybody was just getting warmed up for the Dungeness crab season," he said. "Unfortunately, this could really slow things down."

Steven, who was born the year after the killer waves hit the town in 1964, said his father often reminisced about the event.

"He was especially amazed by the tremendous field of debris it left," he said. "It's still a major topic of conversation in this town."

Residents also said Wednesday that the tsunami warning system failed to alert them to Wednesday's surges.

"We hear sirens all the time, but we didn't hear anything for this thing," said Don Thomsen, the manager of the Curly Redwood Lodge. Thomsen said there are three stages to a tsunami alert.

"First you have a warning, then a watch, and then it's get the hell out of town," he said.

Thomsen said he was not aware of Wednesday's tsunami until he heard about it from other townspeople.

"We're only three blocks from the harbor," he said. "We didn't know it was coming."

Wednesday's quake struck an area claimed by both Russia and Japan, but the waves near Japan did not swell higher than 23 inches. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Six hours later, tsunami waves up to nearly 4 feet caused by the quake crashed into Hawaii's shores, civil defense officials said. There was no serious damage.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.