NOTE DATE: Feb 27, 2010.- Tsunami in Santa Cruz Harbor, Desc at rt -by Diane Rejman

THIS WAS FILMED DURING THE TSUNAMI AFTER THE CHILEAN EARTHQUAKE LAST YEAR, NOT THE JAPANESE ONE THIS WEEK! I have two other videos posted from the more recent one.

The tsunami of March 11, 2011, was the 4th one to hit Santa Cruz since I moved here five years ago. It was the biggest, by far, but acted in a very similar manner as the one last year. Last year, my camera battery died, so this was the only usable footage I got. This year, I was prepared, and knew better where to stand. I I took 68 short videos of various little moments. I've posted 2, and am trying to figure out what to do with the rest. They are not "dramatic," in the way we saw in Japan and Indonesia, but they provide a curious look into moments of time during a rare occurrance. (3/12/2011)

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In this video, you'll see water first - then a beach - then no beach - in less than 40 seconds. This is NOT from just a wave.
Yes - the tsunami generated by the 8.8 earthquake in Chile hit Santa Cruz, CA. No, - it was nothing like the big one that hit the Indian Ocean in 2004. You couldn't even tell it was happening if you watched at a beach. The waves at Seabright Beach which break on the jetty by the lighthouse, looked like big storm waves. But inside the Harbor, it was very obvious. The energy got concentrated. Big swells moved in and out for at least an hour. Probably 5 or 6 rounds. For a while, you could see the beach inside the Harbor by the lighthouse. Then it got buried in water. I think the effects from the tsunami's energy continued for a couple hours longer, but it wasn't as dramatic.

I didn't see them, but I heard there were two foot waves breaking all the way in the lower Harbor. A dinghy got submerged by one of the waves, kept floating, broke loose from the dock, and had to be
rescued. Another woman saw a sea lion or otter happily riding one of the currents out, and he was moving fast. A man who "rode it out" on his docked boat, said he measured the currents at 6-8 knots. I saw the water rushing past the bridge heading in, and ten minutes later, it was headed back out to the ocean. When the swells hit the land at the end of the Harbor, the energy bounced back and swirled the water even more. It was churning and brown, and at times, it looked similar to the surface of boiling water - with all kinds of random bumps and drops. A couple of boats broke loose. I haven't heard if there was any damage. There were a lot of people out. I sensed a great energy in the air. It was a very interesting thing to see.
(sorry about the bad audio track. I haven't figured out how to silence the original sound in order to make a good narration.)

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• tsunami
• santa cruz
• santa cruz harbor
• diane rejman
• chile

[dianere2005]

No - NOT "just" big waves. This was from the tsunami generated by the Chilean earthquake. Any wave generated from and earthquake is called a tsunami, even when it's running out of energy.

[dianere2005]

Dear Sincerely Confused, Please note the date of this video. Today's was the 4th tsunami to hit Santa Cruz in the past 5 years. Diane

[Coolboy81]

I recognize the way these waves look from some of the 2004 tsunami videos here on Youtube, although these were much smaller but you could still tell they weren't wind generated waves and could also be potentially dangerous. I know I wouldn't be out in a boat there that day for sure! Great footage! :)

[survivorman1265]

sorry to say i studied the waves and thats just what they are waves there is no tsunami there . those are wind tide waves tsunami surges would not stop like that at the entrance of the ocean to the river inlet. they would be a complete rolling wave comming through.

[MrBmoc007]

Your amazingly lucky that this wasnt even a 2 meter Tsunami, otherwise the "protection" from the barriers wouldnt have done anything and it would have swept everything away. Those were just big waves.

[RenoGregory]

@AlFrisby

this was from a year ago

[FoodForThePoorInc]

This is really interesting. We watched TV for a couple of hours. Great shots of Hawaii, but hard to see what was going on. Thanks for the film.