re: "A tsunami generated by a powerful earthquake in Japan struck the small Northern California fishing port of Crescent City Wednesday, destroying docks, sinking a boat and fraying nerves./Bill Steven, a commander with the Del Norte County Sheriff's Department, said the tsunami was "more a series of big surges rather than waves," but he said the damage to the town's harbor was significant. /The surges were reported at 5 to 6 feet high. /"The water surged back and forth like a river, and our docks aren't designed to handle swift water," Steven said. "About 50 percent of the harbor was affected. There's a lot of torn-up foam, wood and concrete. We know at least one boat was sunk, and we had to round up about 12 more that were torn from their moorings." /Steven said no fatalities or injuries were reported.
Crescent City residents are particularly sensitive to tsunami threats. The town was struck by a 21-foot-high tsunami in 1964 that killed 11 people and destroyed most of the town center. /Steven said Del Norte County officials received a notification from the National Weather Service Wednesday morning that a 3- to 5-foot surge resulting from an 8.1 magnitude quake in Japan would hit the Crescent City region at about 11:40 a.m. "We did have a very small surge at that time, and then everybody went back to business as usual," Steven said. /Then at around 2:30, Steven said, residents noticed an ominous sign -- water started running out of the town's harbor, a classic indication of an approaching tsunami. /"You don't like to see that," Steven said. "It looked like a very fast river." /But instead of a large wave, Steven said, the tsunami was manifested as another large surge flowing back into the harbor./"It went on like that until about 5 p.m., maybe later," Steven said. "Just like a big river surging back and forth. It really hammered our docks. Pieces had to be tied off, whole sections disappeared."..."...
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