When was the last time a tsunami hit US as 8.7-magnitude earthquake triggers warnings?
We often equate tsunamis with southeast Asia and countries across the Indian Ocean. But to hear that significant waves are approaching parts of the iconic US west coast may be surprising, albeit equally as alarming.
On Wednesday morning, July 30, a tsunami struck the coastal regions of Russia and Japan following an earthquake measuring 8.7 on the Richter scale, prompting alerts across America's west coast.
Two million individuals have been evacuated throughout Japan, with warnings in place for other parts of the country's east coast and the entire US west coast after the quake - the strongest recorded globally since 2011.
The National Tsunami Warning Centre, based in Alaska, issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands and a watch for sections of the west coast, including California, Oregon and Washington, as well as Hawaii.
Well, it wasn't long ago that huge waves charged towards the US coastline.
On July 29, 2021, a 8.2-magnitude earthquake hit southeast Perryville, Alaska, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. Striking the south of the Alaska Peninsula at 06:15am local time, the earthquake sparked a "small tsunami" but one that was still the largest in the US since the February 1965 earthquake in a similar spot.
The year before, the 1964 Alaska earthquake, also known as the Great Alaska earthquake, was 9.2 in magnitude. The ensuing tsunami caused 139 deaths and $400 million in property loss.
The 2021 earthquake was very close to two other major Alaska earthquake sites - approximately 62 km from the July 2020 7.8-magnitutde earthquake and 145 km from the October 2020 7.6-magnitude earthquake.
The tsunami was seen at Alaskan, Hawaiian, and US West Coast tide gauge stations. Before that, a huge line of severe thunderstorms raced through parts of the northeast on May 15, 2018, as per the US Tsunami Warning System.
The storm system stretched 470 miles from western Pennsylvania to southern New England to Maryland and persisted over approximately eight hours, beginning around midday and continuing through early evening.
The powerful storm caused extensive wind damage, hail, and also produced nine tornadoes in Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania.
As the storm moved across Connecticut and Long Island, waves were observed locally on the tide gauges in Long Island Sound. The storm also generated a small meteotsunami off the Long Island/New Jersey coastline, a large wave, similar to a tsunami, but caused by weather disturbances rather than seismic activity like earthquakes.
The storm then moved south across Maryland and Southern New Jersey with waves spotted on the tide gauges in Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the US.
Alaska may be baring the brunt of the elements again, but Hawaii will not be immune to some impact, either. On Wednesday, waves less than 30 centimetres above tide levels were seen in the Alaskan communities of Amchitka and Adak, according to Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator at the National Tsunami Warning Centre in Alaska.
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The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre also warned that surges of one to three metres above normal tide levels could affect certain coastal regions of Hawaii, Chile, Japan and the Solomon Islands.
"Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property," the warning stated.
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