It was 3 am or so, when we awoke to the Tsunami sirens here in Bandon. Not knowing what was going on, we immediately checked the internet to see what we could find out. Japan was on the headlines, having just had a devastating 8.9 earthquake and a tsunami wave was to be heading its way to the West Coast shortly. We looked out the window to see if the neighbors were up, still quiet. We turned on the news and I checked my phone to see if any of the locals were on Facebook chatting. Sure enough, there was conversation taking place right away, lots of worry about whether or not people should be evacuating or not.
The warnings were for those that live in low lying areas, like the jetty area. I have to admit that even though we live on higher ground, we are really close to the beach, so there was still some panic at first running through my veins. We calmed down after we made a few calls to friends and to our neighbors. They were relying on Bandon's Tsunami Evacuation Map, so we decided to stay put for now.
The first wave was due to hit our area at approximately 7:20 - 7:30 am. Our nerves were settled after hearing that the Hawaii islands made it through okay, but then one of the CNN reporters said some unsettling words...that the West Coast was more of a straight shot than the islands, so the impact could be greater. Hmmm.
Furtunately, for everyone that lives in Bandon, there was no major tsunami wave, just a bunch of small surges throughout the day. The two places that were hit with the most damage were Santa Cruz and Crescent City, California, approximately $50 million, according to this LA Times article.
Click on the links below for local info:
Download Bandon's Tusnami Evacuation Map
Watch Bandon Tusnami Video
Local News Article "Tsunami is all washed up"
Waiting for the Tsunami...
