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Santa Barbara Coast Under Tsunami Advisory; Dangerous Currents, Surf Likely Till 6 p.m.
As of 8:47 a.m. Saturday, the NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a widespread tsunami advisory for the Pacific Coast from the California-Mexico border to Attu Island, Alaska, the result of a destructive magnitude-8.8 earthquake off the coast of Chile early Saturday.
Although the advisory area is not expected to be inundated by tsunami waves, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned people to leave water, beach, harbor and marina areas. The first tsunami tide, which has the potential of creating dangerous currents and surf conditions, were expected to reach Santa Barbara at approximately 12:30 p.m.
Saturday’s low tide in Santa Barbara is 2:52 p.m. with high tide at 9:11 p.m. A high surf advisory is in effect until about 9 p.m.
The city of Santa Barbara extended the tsunami advisory until 6 p.m. Saturday and “strongly” recommended that people leave the harbor, waterfront and beach area.
“A tsunami advisory has been issued for areas of the Pacific Coast, including Santa Barbara,” Santa Barbara Harbor operations manager Mick Kronman said in a statement. “You are advised to stay out of the water, avoid beach areas and the Santa Barbara Harbor until at least 6 p.m. Saturday.”
Click here for a video of the tsunami surge at the Santa Barbara Harbor submitted by a Noozhawk reader.
Down the coast, a dock in Ventura Harbor reportedly was damaged about midafternoon Saturday but details were not immediately available. News reports suggested the damage may have been the result of strong storm tides overnight.
The NOAA issued its strongest alert — a tsunami warning — for Hawaii, where tsunami waves topping out at 8 feet could cause damage along the island chain’s coastline. The first waves are expected to hit the Big Island at 1:05 p.m. Pacific time Saturday, Maui at 1:26 p.m., Oahu at 1:37 p.m. and Kauai at 1:42 p.m. There’s a two-hour time difference between Santa Barbara and Hawaii.
Click here to track tsunami ocean levels from NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center. Click here for an NOAA animation of the tsunami wave pattern.
Click here for a real-time Twitter feed of Hawaii tsunami news. Click here for the Trendsmap of tsunami tweets from around the world.
Tsunami sirens sounded in Hawaii at 6 a.m. local time Saturday and residents in coastal areas were asked to evacuate as quake-triggered waves raced northwest from Chile. Officials said it is the first time Hawaii has experienced a voluntary evacuation since 1994. Fleets of buses were providing free transportation, gas stations and grocery stores were jammed with customers stocking up with emergency supplies, and the Hilo International Airport on the coast was closed. Many gas stations were sold out.
Guam, American Samoa and dozens of other Pacific islands also are under a warning. Police reportedly evacuated tens of thousands of coastal residents on several South Pacific islands that were hit by a tsunami last fall.
In Chile, news reports said at least 200 people were killed in the quake, which was centered near Concepción, Chile’s second-largest city, located about 200 miles southwest of Santiago, the capital. Several buildings reportedly collapsed, bridges and main highways were cut off, and fires were spreading in buildings in Concepción. Numerous aftershocks of magnitude 5 and higher have been recorded.
Google quickly launched a “Person Finder” to connect those looking for missing people in Chile and those who have information. Click here to launch Google’s Person Finder.
At midday Saturday, a magnitude-6.3 quake struck northwest Argentina, killing at least two people. The epicenter was located about 15 miles north of Salta, about 800 miles north-northwest of Buenos Aires, the capital. Officials said the Argentina quake is not related to the temblor in neighboring Chile.
Saturday’s earthquake is one of the strongest to hit Chile, which was struck by an 8.5-magnitude temblor on March 3, 1985. The Jan. 12 earthquake that killed as many as 230,000 people in Haiti was a magnitude 7.
The biggest earthquake on record, a 9.5-magnitude quake on May 22, 1960, also struck Chile. That quake generated a tsunami that killed 61 people as waves as high as 30 feet smashed shorelines as far away as Hawaii, the Philippines and Japan.
— Noozhawk staff writer Ben Preston can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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