Tsunami Advisory Canceled for Bay Area and Central Coast, With No Damage So Far

Updated 11:53 a.m. Wednesday

A tsunami advisory that was in effect for the Bay Area and Central Coast was canceled Wednesday morning after a massive earthquake Tuesday night off the eastern coast of Russia.

Waves began hitting the Bay Area coastline around 1 a.m., though they were far from damaging.

For most of the Bay Area coast, the tsunami has led to waves up to a foot higher. Areas like Point Reyes in Marin County and Port San Luis in San Luis Obispo County have seen significant waves so far, and the tsunami advisory remains in effect for parts of the California coast.

There are no reports of damage along Bay Area coastlines. Although the tsunami advisory was canceled for the region around 11 a.m., officials warned that fluctuating water levels would continue to make the ocean “dynamic and dangerous,” with possible strong currents.

“The highest that we’ve seen so far has come a few hours after the initial waves,” said Dalton Behringer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Bay Area office. “So, with tsunami waves, we can see the wave energy actually build for several hours after the initial waves and then dissipate.”

Tsunamis are not single waves but a series of waves carrying a large amount of water, according to the NWS. Emergency officials like those in San Francisco warned people to stay out of the water and move away from all beaches, docks and piers.

Wednesday’s waves “hit Monterey Bay first and then lagged behind a little bit into the San Francisco Bay Area,” Behringer said.

Farther north, officials are keeping a close eye on Crescent City in Del Norte County. A tsunami warning, indicating the possibility of dangerous coastal flooding and powerful currents, was in effect there before being downgraded to an advisory Wednesday morning.

“We’ve recorded wave heights of 3.5 to almost 4 feet in Crescent City,” said Danny Schmiegel, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Eureka. “So they’ve been coming in, and the periods between those waves are quite long as well, within multiple hours apart from each other.”

Crescent City has historically been vulnerable to tsunamis. Dozens of boats were destroyed following a tsunami from the devastating Japan earthquake in 2011. This time, they were prepared, Schmiegel said.

“We were able to let folks know who had boats and had that kind of investment in that area to get their boats out to a depth of 180 feet, which at that point the tsunami will just pass under them with no harm,” he said.

KQED’s Jared Servantez contributed to this report.