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I just wrote a four paragraph account of the events of the evacuation and my personal story. I lost it all after sitting here for two hours writing, loading photos, etc. So, suffice it to say it was an experience of a lifefime. I returned to the park from a 4:00 am evacuation. Since I am paid up for a while yet, I got a new site with a better view of the bay and shot these photos out my back window of the trailer. The bay never has a surf, or any swell, it's merely a typical bay with calm water with its opening to the ocean about 1/8 of a mile to my right. So these are Tsunami waves every thirty minutes for about 9 hours. There is a video of these same waves and Depoe Bay dock on "Facebook". search for Netarts Bay and you will see it listed there.

thank you for posting the pics, I was wondering how it looked on our own turf, all the news
is showing Japans devastation of course but have seen nothing of the minor damage
done to some of our bays off the west coast or even Hawaii.

Thanks for sharing the photos. The waves were just about the same here (near Pismo Beach, CA). Some of the local Rv parks were evacuated - the people ended up camping behind WalMart until they could go back to their campsites. But, Santa Cruz lost a few boats due to the tsunami waves in their harbor.

Last night I watched "It could Happen Tomorrow" about a huge quake striking the San Francisco Bay Area. The Golden Gate Bridge and some buildings are retrofitted but not everything. Very scarey what could happen. Japan knows firsthand now!!

Linda

So glad to hear from you. I thought of you as soon as the watch was put on for our coast. I figured you would be evacuated. I really liked seeing the videos and your pictures. The only info we were getting was from Crescent City and Santa Cruz.

Hope you get to feeling better soon.

All I can say is, Wow! Glad you are ok. It could just as easily been the US that got hit hard. Praying for those in Japan.

Oh, I hate when I lose a post - and it's always a big one. Thanks for taking the time to redo lots of it. So glad you're ok - and glad also you were able to take the pics, etc.

Glad you checked in, Kathy. WAs wondering just where you were and hoping it was safe.

For those of you who haven't seen footage of the Crescent City harbor tsunami, here is a You Tube link to that. Just amazing, the power of these waves!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kvHxqRJ ... re=related

I guess I had a different picture of a Tsunami...I thought it was these GIANT waves that just clobbered ya, but in watching all the videos I see that it is the SURGE that is so destructive. It isnt a "wall of water" it is just water that keeps on coming and coming, undermining everything in its way, with a POWERFUL influx and then the undertow. Then it does it again and again.

I watched videos of the surge undermining the harbors of Brookings, and Crescent City. I was surprised at the force. Well guess I'm not too old to learn something new all the time.

A couple of the You Tube videos also had great narrative. There were some on there filmed by the Coast Guard too. I found it fascinating today....until the power went out at my house for 3 hours LOL A pretty big storm came in here in Southern Oregon, rather quickly this afternoon so we had high winds, pelting rain, and then no power. After going thru the house (and of course flipping the light switch every time even tho I knew the power was out) a few times to see what chores I could do I finally settled on the couch, to finish reading my book and snuggle with the dog. So it wasnt all bad. Good thing my book is on my DROID phone.

k

One of the articles I read explained the death of an amateur photographer - thought he was standing on the beach to take pictures of the waves and surge coming in. He had done so with the first surge and this was going to be the 2nd. He didn't understand they could come sideways - and one came down the beach and took him under.

I remember being in TX while waiting to see where a hurricane was going to go - and we went down to look at the water. We stayed back - while others were playing in it - with their children - one with a little dog. If I hadn't made them get the kids and dog out of the water, at least one of them wouldn't have made it. People never cease to amaze me in what they think they can do. Don't get me wrong, I take my share of chances, I know. But there are some that just seem so wrong to me.

Most people think of tsunami's as a huge tidal wave(or as one expert put it, the "Hawaii 5-O wave"), but it is more like smaller, more powerful waves. Normal waves are just water moving at the surface, while surges are all of the water from the surface all the way to the bottom, that is moving with a ton of force, so that is why they are so destructive. There is also a lot of turbulence under the surface, including whirlpools and riptides, and that is what catches people off guard. They don't see that and don't realize how dangerous those "small" waves really are. I think all these videos taken of the tsunami have been a real learning tool for people to learn and understand more about this phenominon. I sure have learned a lot!

Thanks for posting and letting us know you are all okay where you are. My thoughts turned to you as soon as I heard the tsunami's were heading to the U.S. mainland. The pictures of the waves coming into the bay were fascinating. Another experience to chalk up in your life's adventures.

Sorry you lost that long post. It would have been interesting reading it. But seems like there are a number of us who are losing posts lately. I lost one yesterday after about an hour of getting my pictures all set and my short paragraph done, then POOF! So started all over again.