UPDATED: Oregon coast busy despite tsunami warning: ‘I think more people came to the beach’
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The entire West Coast, including coastal Oregon, came under a tsunami advisory after an undersea volcano erupted in spectacular fashion near the Pacific nation of Tonga.
The National Weather Service expected waves of 1 to 3 feet along the Oregon coast. As of early afternoon, the largest Oregon coast wave reported by the agency was a 1.5-foot swell observed at Port Orford.
The weather service also reported a 0.8-foot wave in Charleston, a 0.7-foot wave in Newport and a 0.2-foot wave in Astoria.
The advisory for the Oregon and Washington coasts was canceled shortly before 5 p.m., but the National Weather Service still cautioned: “Some areas may continue to experience strong currents and small sea level changes.”
Many Oregonians took to the shoreline in Seaside earlier in the day despite alerts to stay away. Throngs of beachgoers walked and played in the sand Saturday, and the surf did not appear out of the ordinary.
When Jordan Harris woke up in a Seaside motel and saw a news alert about the tsunami, it gave him a momentary jolt.
“There’s a second where it’s like — that’s the worst fear — being on the beach and there’s a tsunami,” said Harris, 35.
But Harris, who traveled to the sunny tourist town from Hillsboro with his family and 5-year-old Siberian husky, Raja, quickly calmed down after reading more about the event and seeing that the largest crests, of only about a foot or two, were expected in the morning.
“It’s just a nice little family day,” he said.
Following Saturday’s eruption, residents in Hawaii, Alaska and along the U.S. Pacific coast were advised to move away from the coastline to higher ground and to pay attention to specific instructions from their local emergency management officials, said Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator for the National Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska.
“We don’t issue an advisory for this length of coastline as we’ve done - I’m not sure when the last time was - but it really isn’t an everyday experience,” Snider said.
He said the waves slamming ashore in Hawaii were just under the criteria for a more serious tsunami warning.
“It looks like everything will stay below the warning level, but it’s difficult to predict because this is a volcanic eruption, and we’re set up to measure earthquake or seismic-driven sea waves,” Snider said.
VOLCANIC ERUPTION; TSUNAMI EFFECTS ELSEWHERE
On Tonga, home to about 105,000 people, video posted to social media showed large waves washing ashore in coastal areas, swirling around homes, a church and other buildings. Satellite images showed a huge eruption, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like a mushroom above the blue Pacific waters.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or on the extent of the damage because all internet connectivity with Tonga was lost at about 6:40 p.m. local time, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for the network intelligence firm Kentik.
Tonga gets its internet via an undersea cable from Suva, Fiji, which presumably was damaged. Southern Cross Cable Network, the company that manages the connection, does not know yet “if the cable is cut or just suffering power loss,” chief technical officer Dean Veverka said. He said he assumed the eruption was responsible.
The Fiji-based Islands Business news site reported that a convoy of police and military troops evacuated King Tupou VI from his palace near the shore. He was among the many residents who headed for higher ground.
In Hawaii, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported waves that measured 1.6 feet in Nawiliwili, Kauai and 2.7 feet in Hanalei. The National Weather Service said there were reports of boats getting pushed up in docks, but the hazard diminished as the morning went on.
“We are relieved that there is no reported damage and only minor flooding throughout the islands,” the tsunami center said, describing the situation in Hawaii. The tsunami advisory for the islands was lifted about 11 hours after the eruption more than 3,000 miles away.
Beaches and piers were closed across Southern California as a precaution. The National Weather Service tweeted there were “no significant concerns about inundation.” Strong rip currents were possible, however, and officials warned people to stay out of the water.
On California’s central coast, the National Weather Service reported tsunami waves up to 4 feet and flooding in beach parking lots at Port San Luis. About 200 miles down the coast, the waves were much smaller at Southern California’s Seal Beach, according to Michael Pless, the owner of M&M Surf School.
“The waves are looking pretty flat,” Pless said. “We’re hoping they reopen the beach in a couple hours.”
Crowds gathered at the Santa Cruz Harbor in California to watch the rising and falling water strain boat ties on docks. Law enforcement tried to clear people away when big surges started at around 7:30 a.m.
About an hour later, a surge went over the back lip of the harbor, filling a parking lot and low-lying streets and setting some cars afloat. In 2011 after the Japanese earthquake a series of surges cost $20 million of damage in the harbor.
Although experienced surfers would consider the waves reaching the West Coast barely high enough to qualify as swells, the National Weather Service warned that tsunamis cause deceptive water surges powerful enough to pull people out to sea.
Residents of American Samoa were alerted of a tsunami warning by local broadcasters as well as church bells that rang territory-wide Saturday. An outdoor siren warning system was out of service. Those living along the shoreline quickly moved to higher ground.
As night fell, there were no reports of any damage and the Hawaii-based tsunami center canceled the alert.
Authorities in the nearby island nations of Fiji and Samoa also issued warnings, telling people to avoid the shoreline due to strong currents and dangerous waves. In New Zealand, officials warned of possible storm surges from the eruption.
This report will be updated.
— Jim Ryan and The Associated Press
Mark Graves and Zane Sparling of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report.