Harbor on alert for surge

A firefighter watches Crescent City Harbor’s water level Tuesday night. The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

Several boats had left the harbor by 10 p.m., prompted by a tsunami advisory issued hours earlier, and crews were waiting aboard several others to see what the evening held.

“If this is going to be a big one, most of these are going to take off,” said harbor employee John Marques, referring to the occupied boats that lit up the harbor.

Shortly after 10 p.m., an official confirmed that a first surge had occurred at 9:32 p.m., but that it was only a couple of inches high, leading to oscillating waves up to about 6 inches higher than normal high tide, which occurred at 9:13 p.m.

Additional surges, possibly stronger, were expected over the next couple of hours, said Cindy Henderson, emergency services manager for Del Norte County.

Hours earlier, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had issued a tsunami advisory along the California and Oregon coasts after a strong earthquake shook the Samoa Islands in the South Pacific and wave surges there killed dozens of people.

Harbor worker John Marques: ‘Let’s hope nothing happens.’ The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson

“All we do is wait and see. These are unpredictable, especially in Crescent City.”

Researchers have found that the crescent shape of the city’s coastline along South Beach tends to amplify tsunami energy, and with the way the harbor is situated, it seems to act as a funnel for the surge. More recent research has suggested the inner boat basin adds to this effect, and focuses a tsunami’s energy even more.

This was seen the last time a tsunami struck Crescent City in November 2006. On that occasion, a 35-inch surge that never breached land caused millions of dollars worth of damage to the inner boat basin.

In 1964, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Alaska generated a series of waves that destroyed much of Crescent City’s downtown, killing 11 people in Del Norte County.

The area’s tsunami-rich history wasn’t lost on its residents and visitors Tuesday night. Even away from the harbor, groups of people watched the surf from viewpoints around town.

The harbor glowed from the lights of emergency vehicles and boats being prepared for possible get-aways.

“If you get it out of the harbor, it’s not like a wave, it just kind of rolls over,” said commercial fisherman John Ludwig, who was aboard a friend’s boat, The Outlaw.

Ludwig seemed to share the sentiment of many fishermen at the harbor Tuesday night. They didn’t think much was going to happen, but they knew enough about Crescent City’s history to not underestimate the power of the Pacific.

“I heard it wasn’t going to be anything, but I figured I was just going to check it out anyway,” Ludwig said.