Tsunami advisory issued for Bay Area following volcanic eruption
Residents are told to avoid coastal waters, including beaches, harbors and piers.
A tsunami advisory was issued Saturday morning along the West Coast, including parts of the Bay Area, as weather officials told residents to avoid coastal waters.
The National Weather Service said there could be up to a couple feet of flooding at beaches at harbor areas in the Bay Area, including in San Francisco, Berkeley and Santa Cruz, during the morning hours.
Officials from around the region urged residents not to go near beaches, harbors or piers, while in Berkeley the fire department issued an evacuation order to the city’s Marina neighborhood.
The tsunami waves are expected to “arrive in pulses” throughout the day, the National Weather Service tweeted. The conditions were triggered by a volcanic eruption at Tongatapu, the largest island in Tonga, which saw its own large tsunami waves early Saturday.
Shortly after 8 a.m., a peak wave of about 7.93 feet hit Monterey Bay — a rapid rise from tides of roughly half that length earlier in the morning. Point Reyes saw a wave of 7.1 feet around the same time.
Cynthia Palmer, a National Weather Service meteorologist, compared the peak wave in Monterey to a king tide, saying it inundated most of the beach when it struck. She warned that waves later in the day could be even larger and advised people to avoid the beaches.
“It’s not a one-and-done — this is an all-day type of event,” Palmer said in an interview. “We do expect these conditions to last for the better part of the day.”
The weather service’s announcement early Saturday prompted the San Francisco Department of Emergency to order residents to “self-evacuate” or call 911 if they were near the coast.
“Stay away from San Francisco beaches, harbor and marina docks, and piers until the city issues an official notice that it is safe to return,” the department said in an alert.
The Berkeley Fire Department, meanwhile, ordered the mandatory evacuation of residents living at or near the city’s Marina neighborhood due to similar flooding risks.
Palmer said she and other meteorologists are looking to Hawaii and Alaska — which are marginally closer to Tongatapu — in order to gauge peak wavelengths in the Bay Area.
Jason Hoppin, a spokesman for Santa Cruz County, was down at Rio Del Mar beach on Saturday morning, observing the tidal run-up from afar. He said there were still people walking their dogs about 100 feet from the water, and that state parks officials were on their way to the beach with bullhorns to ward them away from the area.
“I don’t think they know what’s going on,” Hoppin said in an interview of the beachgoers who remained. “They’re looking down and wondering why the sand is wet.”
Bay Area weather officials have long warned that tsunamis are a common occurrence in the region, and that bad ones, while rare, could still strike. They have advised that residents who live near the coast stay up to date on alerts and tsunami advisories like the one issued Saturday.
#TsunamiAdvisory remains in effect for the #WestCoast, with peak tsunami wave heights of 1 to 2 feet possible. Main impacts expect to be strong rip currents, coastal flooding, and inundation of low lying areas is possible. Move to higher ground. #CAwx
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) January 15, 2022
A Tsunami *Advisory* remains in effect for our area this morning. Wondering what this means? Here's a graphic explaining more along with what actions you should take. #cawx pic.twitter.com/0LvfaCSBdo
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) January 15, 2022
Check back for updates. Staff writer Paul Rogers contributed reporting.