 Harbormaster Richard Young attempts to photgraph a surge at the entrance to the inner boat basin at the Crescent City Harbor. (The Daily Triplicate/Bryant Anderson)
Ocean surges reached Del Norte County on Saturday afternoon after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
One of the surges, according to gauges in the Crescent City area, was 1.2 feet above normal levels.
Sandbars not normally visible in the Crescent City Harbor poked above the water line on several occasions as water receded before the surges.
The tsunami advisory was canceled Saturday evening.
People lined observation points along the coastline trying to catch a glimpse of a tsunami.
Bob Ginnochio of Crescent City, owner of the charter fishing vessel Tally Ho II, watched from the harbor docks after receiving a call about the tsunami warning.
“I just came out to make sure my boat was tied up — if the dock goes, at least it would be tied to the dock,” said Ginnochio.
Ginnochio said he began docking his boat at the harbor in 1993, and the vessel road out the 35-inch surge that damaged the docks in 2006.
His boat was undamaged then, and it appeared every boat left in the harbor would escape damage Saturday.
John Brubaker decided he would just pull his 22-foot boat out of the water.
Brubaker said with a laugh he pulled his boat out because “there’s a tsunami coming — it’s just common sense.”
Ginnochio said the harbor was allowing people to take their boats out to sea to wait out the surge or leave them in the harbor.
A couple dozen boats were taken out to sea in case of a bigger tsunami.
Authorities blocked public access to Citizen’s Dock, only allowing boat owners to come in and either secure or take their vessels out to sea.
Sheriff’s Commander Bill Steven said access was blocked because if the harbor was flooded with people, it would create a safety issue for boats coming in and out.
Crescent City Police Sgt. Garrett Scott said authorities also blocked access to B Street Pier, the Preston Island parking lot off of Pebble Beach Drive and the Crescent City jetty.
By comparison to Saturday’s surges, the biggest wave of the destructive 1964 tsunami here was estimated at 22 feet above the mean low tide level, meaning it was 16 feet above the tide at the time.
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.
A 9.5-magnitude earthquake in Chile on May 22, 1960, generated a tsunami that caused flooding in coastal areas of Crescent City. It was the strongest recorded earthquake in human history.
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