Chegado há pouco mais de 15 dias da California, chamou aa atenção as plaquinhas de alerta de tsunami em Marina Del Rey, ao sul de Santa Monica e Venice, no caminho para Redondo Beach, Long Beach e Hunghinton Beach. Em setembro de 2010 um terremoto de 8,0 graus na escala Richter fez disparar as sirenes de alarme de evacuação.
Tsunami warnings on West Coast of U.S. as residents told to get to higher ground
By RACHEL QUIGLEY
Last updated at 5:03 PM on 11th March 2011
- Tsunami warnings cover area stretching along entire western coast and Canada from the Mexican border to Chignik Bay in Alaska
- Northern California expected to be worst hit with waves between six and seven feet
- Evacuations likely in some areas as sea levels will vary significantly
The West Coast of America has been placed under tsunami watch following the devastating 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan.
Waves could peak to as much as seven feet along the coast shortly after 8am PST and residents who live on or near the beach are being told to evacuate and move to higher ground.
The warnings cover an area stretching along the entire western coast and Canada from the Mexican border to Chignik Bay in Alaska, where a dozen small communities along the Aleutian Island chain were also on alert.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration graphic showing the warnings in place along the west coast of the United States and Canada
The latest estimates from the National Weather Service suggests the sea level rise along the coast will vary significantly.
Tsunami wave heights will top seven feet at Port San Luis Harbour in Central California but less than two feet in Santa Barbara, Malibu and San Pedro.
Officials don't expect major coastal flooding but said the waves could create unusual and potentially dangerous currents that could last several hours.
North of Point Conception, authorities have directed that all people bemoved away from any low-lying areas.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, an emergency warning system announcement for a tsunami warning was broadcast just after 1am PST.
A lower-level advisory was issued for the Southern California coast south of Point Concepcion, which includes southern San Luis Obispo County and the counties of Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego.
Dangerous coastal flooding accompanied by powerful currents is possible and may continue for several hours after arrival of the initial wave.
Officials do not expect waves to cause damage but are telling people to avoid beach areas.
Unusual wave action from the quake is expected to last several hours.
A state emergency spokesman confirmed that parts of northern California will be worst hit with waves between six and seven feet expected at Crescent City.
California Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jordan Scott said: 'It is very possible there may be some evacuations here. The north near the Oregon border is most likely to see big waves.'
Schools up and down the Oregon coast were closed while businesses, hotels and homes were evacuated.
The Great Highway, along San Francisco's western coast, has been closed.
A forecast model image from NOAA showing predicted tsunami wave heights on the open ocean as well as one-hour contours of travel time from the epicentre
Surfers at Newport Beach, Orange County, California, took advantage of the tsunami warning and spent the morning surfing the already gathering waves
The weather service warned: 'Those feeling the earth shake, seeing unusual wave action, or the water level rising or receding may have only a few minutes before the tsunami arrival and should move immediately.
'Homes and small buildings are not designed to withstand tsunami impacts.'
With a tsunami warning in effect for Northern California, police patrol along San Francisco's Great Highway
Cindi Preller of the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre told Fox 11 News that the tsunami could cause some unusually high tides but not major inundations.
She said it was possible that officials will ask that beaches be cleared as a precaution and believed that the situation on the California coast might be similar to the aftermath of last year's Chile quake. That quake caused some small waves but caused no major damage.
There is a heavy police presence on beach areas around California, warning people to stay away and get to a safe area. It is not certain whether there will be a full evacuation yet.
A number of helicopters are also hovering over the area.
Social networking sites exploded with messages about the tsunami, with many warning friends and relatives of people who live on the West Coast to call and wake them up to get them to a safe area.
Manny29 wrote: 'Everyone in California is likely sleeping and do not know about the tsunami warnings, wake them up and get them to a safe place.'
PaulyPaul wrote: 'Been trying to call my sister and brother in law in OC but no response, they live right on the beach, need to get them off.'
SylviaMaria said: 'Please everyone in Cal, stay away from beaches, get to higher ground and wake up your friends.'
Others were simply offering their prayers for those affected, or about to be, by the earthquake and resulting tsunamis.
Map of the Pacific Ocean detailing the estimated initial tsunami wave arrival times after Japan's massive earthquake on Friday
Overwhelmed: The tsunami engulfs a residential area in Natori, Miyagi
Utter devastation: Flames engulf houses in Sendai, Miyagi, after they were swallowed up by enormous waves that swept through Japan after a massive earthquake this morning
EXPECTED WAVE HEIGHTS (FEET)
MORRO BAY 3.9
PORT SAN LUIS HARBOUR 7.1
PISMO BEACH 2.4
SANTA MARIA 3.3
SANTA BARBARA 1.6
CARPINTERIA 1.6
VENTURA 2.9
MALIBU 1.2
SANTA MONICA 2.8
REDONDO BEACH 2.1
SAN PEDRO HARBOR 1.3
HUNTINGTON BEACH 2.3
There were reports that 'extreme surfers' in both Hawaii and California were on standby on the beach to catch the tsunami waves.
Lori Dengler, professor of geology at Humboldt State University, told CNN that the 'series of surges' due to arrive in the next three or so hours have 'the potential to look a little like what happened in 1964 along the West Coast, when there was quite a bit of damage of flooding in Oregon, Washington, Canada and Crescent City'.
She said: 'Coastal emergency managers are very busy working with first responders and public safety people to organize the process and evacuations.
'It's not something that can be done lightly, people can be injured in the course of evacuating if it's not done in a controlled way.
'The fortunate thing for us on the West Coast is we have a lot of time to get this done, because in much of this part of the West Coast, we're dealing with very rural populations, unlike in Japan, where most people are within earshot of sirens.
'We have very few ways of notifying people, television, radio, but this is the middle of the night and people are sleeping.'
Explore more:
- Places:
- San Francisco,
- San Diego,
- Los Angeles,
- Washington,
- Santa Barbara,
- Canada,
- Japan,
- Chile,
- America
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365335/Tsunami-alert-following-Japan-earthquake-today-West-Coast-America.html#ixzz1GKK28KsR
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