Tsunami warning/advisory for entire US West Coast from Tonga volcano eruption

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I’m with you and would prefer they erred on safe rather than sorry. Too many variables. It’s always easy to armchair quarterback and critique in hindsight. It’s never easy looking forward. People could die if the wrong decision had been made and it had been worse.

Closer to my area we always get the armchair quarterbacks using hindsight to say what should have been done with hurricanes - quite easy to see post hurricane or after it’s changed direction. It’s human nature for some folks I guess. And, of course, with pretty much each hurricane someone who “thought they knew better” than the forecasters dies.

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22

Our best friends are on a sailing trip in French Polynesia right now :flushed:. Just texted to check in. Thankfully, they are fine and only just heard the news of the eruption this morning. They are close to Tahiti.

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23

We live in Tiburon (a little peninsula across from San Francisco) and it was a non-event here, except our tsunami siren went off at 7:45 and that was startling!

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24

thanks. just looked that up- its right across from where i’ll be. thanks for sharing; very helpful.

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26

I was surprised to see Alameda, CA and Richmond, CA with tsunami readings since those cities are in San Francisco Bay and not on the coast.

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HI escaped relatively unscathed. The warning was issued and lifted while most of us were asleep. No sirens went off for evacuation, unlike after Japan Tsunami.

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28

I just saw yesterday that Tahiti had flooding, unrelated to this volcano.

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Yes, he said they’ve had days of heavy rain. We had briefly toyed with the idea of joining them on this trip when they booked it in early 2020 - guess I’m glad we didn’t!

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30

We live in an area that can get a lot of snow - and tornadoes. Sure, sometimes the big snows or tornadoes they predict don’t pan out … but I would rather have a heads-up so I can be prepared in case of the worst, rather than get caught unaware (and assuming it won’t be a big deal is “unaware,” IMO). Tsunamis are formed from activity under the ocean, and the potential to underestimate the possible damage is great. If the worst happened & people hadn’t been warned in advance of the possibility, unnecessary deaths could occur. Better safe than sorry.

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31

Drove by the beach areas earlier. We’ve had rain. Lots of surfers were out but the waves look normal. From Windandsea:
https://www.surfline.com/surf-report/windansea/5842041f4e65fad6a770883c

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32

Tsunami waves can get into the bay, even though the relatively small opening limits how much can get into the bay.

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Left Hawaii Thursday night. Some areas were still recovering from flooding due to heavy rains earlier.

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34

ETA: Here’s this morning’s follow-up. It was no trivial matter here: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/huge-waves-hit-Bay-Area-after-Tonga-volcano-16779384.php

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35

Yup, those cars could have been saved if the people paid attention to warnings!

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