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A tsunami advisory was issued and then canceled over the weekend for the California coastline following a huge 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile. No damage was reported along the Bay Area coastline despite rising water levels in some areas of the region.
National Weather Service officials said shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday night that the tsunami advisory was no longer in effect because — although water levels had risen by about a foot along the region’s coastline during the day — significant water level rises were no longer expected.
The tsunami advisory was issued for the entire West Coast after an earthquake struck in Chile at about 3:35 a.m. Saturday, causing dangerous waves that were believed to have spread throughout the Pacific Ocean.
Residents were warned to stay off local beaches, although no National Park beaches were closed. Waves arrived in the Bay Area at about 1:30 p.m., but despite the rise in the water level, no damage was reported.
Tsunamis are a series of waves that can batter a region for hours after the initial waves arrive, according to the National Weather Service. For officials, a tsunami “advisory” is not as serious as a “warning.”
The earthquake and several aftershocks that followed are estimated to have caused at least $15 billion in damage in Chile, according to Eqecat, an Oakland-based risk-modeling firm that estimates damage caused by catastrophes.
My kids and I took a bike ride on the Stevens Creek Trail to Shoreline Park the day the tsunami was to arrive. We crossed over Permanente Creek on Shoreline Blvd. around 1:30pm and noticed the creek was flowing backwards and the water level was very high – well above the normal high tide level.
Thanks to a rain shower, we sheltered at Michaels until about 2:30pm and went to look at the creek when we left. The water level was about 3 feet lower already and rapidly flowing back out to the bay.
So, while there was no damage or danger, the tsunami was definitely observed, even here at the most southern tip of the bay. Pretty cool, if you ask me!
“No damage reported following tsunami advisory”
Never occurred to me that advisories could be dangerous.