AP Wire | 11/16/2006 | Crescent City harbor suffers up to $700K in damages from tsunami

re: "CRESCENT CITY, Calif. - Two docks were destroyed after a five-foot surge rolled into the Crescent City Harbor on Wednesday afternoon and caused up to $700,000 in damages. /The surge was the result of an undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1 that struck earlier in the day near Japan, prompting tsunami warnings for Japan, Russia and Alaska, according to the National Weather Service...[snip]...In California, the weather service reported ocean surges as high as 6 feet and waves gusting up to 30 mph but did not call an official tsunami warning or watch. /Surges were observed from Port San Luis on the Central California coast to the Oregon border, but were too small and concentrated to prompt a tsunami warning, said Sten Tjaden, an NWS forecaster in Eureka. /"They don't want to put a warning out if the impact is going to be so localized," Tjaden said. "And I haven't heard of damage elsewhere. The only place I've heard of damage is at Crescent City at the harbor." /Harbor workers at Crescent City - about 20 miles south of Oregon's state line - noticed a fast-moving current around mid-afternoon that harbor master Richard Young described as a "river within the ocean."/As the surge rushed out of the harbor, workers noticed that two floating docks in the inner basin were destroyed, Young said. Another surge followed, severely damaging a third dock, he said. The harbor can accommodate up to 200 boats up to 75 feet long. /No injuries were reported, and the surge did not sink any boats. But several vessels attached to the destroyed docks bobbed away from their anchorage and likely received dings and possibly greater damages, the harbor master said. /Young said the replacement costs of the docks could range from $300,000 to $700,000. /Rain pounded the harbor after the surge, but crews were able to secure the loose boats and stabilize the damaged dock and the six remaining floating docks in the inner harbor.
"We're secure for the night, and we're going home after a long day," Young said Wednesday after sunset. "We've done our best to stabilize things." /Small surges of 1 to 4 feet continued to hit the California coast into the evening, and boaters, beach goers and others near the shore were advised to use caution, according to NWS...."...