Interim Harbor Master Robert Johnson closed the pier in Pillar Point Harbor to the public and has sent patrol boats to the mouth of the breakwater to assist in potential rescue operations.
An ocean surge estimated to heights of three and a half feet could threaten people and property in the harbor and on the beaches. A statement issued by the National Weather Service warned “persons in tsunami advisory areas should move out of the water” and stay “off the beach and out of harbors and marinas.”
 Interim Harbor Master Robert Johnson warns the public to stay off the pier at Pillar Point Harbor during a tsunami advisory on Saturday afternoon. |
At 1:00pm Johnson tied caution tape at a point on the pier to monitor the rise and fall of sea level. After an initial rise of one foot in fifteen minutes the swell had reached thirty inches in height within a half hour.
The last tsunami to strike the Half Moon Bay Area causing significant damage occurred on April 1, 1946 when a 7.4 magnitude earthquake on the Aleutian Islands of Alaska spawned waves ten to fourteen feet in height that destroyed boats and buildings in Princeton. Destruction from the tsunami triggered by the Alaskan earthquake was as far reaching as the coast of Chile were fishing boats were damaged according to historical information published by the USC Tsunami Research Group.
Additional information including forecast models, wave amplitudes and initial times of arrival as well as updates can be found at http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/. The tsunami advisory can be read in its entirety here: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/getprod.php?prod=XXXSPSMTR&wfo=mtr&version=0.
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