I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere near the place.
The Tsunami Arrives at Dana Point Harbor!
On February 27, 2010, an 8.6 earthquake off the Chilean coast spawned a pacific-wide Tsunami Alert. The wave was to hit Southern California around 12:30pm. causing the Orange County Sheriff to close and evacuate the Dana Point Harbor. Many boats took off for deep water and parked about 1 mile offshore while the Harbor Patrol circled around the Harbor supervising the exodus.
The first and largest wave was about two feet high, causing the water to swirl into the harbor, then stop and reverse flow over the course of about 20 minutes. While a two foot wave may not sound like much, the wavelength is so large that the ENTIRE harbor rose and fell in a very short time, which is moving one heck of a lot of water through a very narrow opening! The currents were very fast, very strong, and very dangerous. We safely watched the drama unfold from the 150 ft. high clifftop surrounding the harbor.
At 3:00pm, the wave pulses were diminishing enough that the Sheriff cancelled the evacuation and opened the harbor again. We drove down from the cliffs to the harbor edge and took this video of the much weaker 5th or 6th wave.
A Harbor Patrol craft attempting to dock directly across from us had an awkward moment when the boats' engine failed right at a crucial moment and the craft struck the harbor rocks. The pilot got the engine restarted quickly and within seconds had the ship safely moored in its slip. Whew!
Huge Waterspouts, Fiery Comets, Firefighting Goats,
Sea Monsters and Movie Stars all await your eyes. See where Errol
Flynn dueled to the death in "Captain Blood",
where monster 25 foot waves smash against rocky cliffs, where
goats are the local firefighters, and where the home of Light-headed.com
is located! See the unique and colorful history of one of California's
most lovely beach communities.
Get the full official story of "Laguna Woman",
discovered in Laguna Beach in 1933 by my late father-in-law, Howard
Wilson. Read the official documents and newspaper articles on
the most important archeological find in American history.
The magnificent phenomena known as Waterspouts visit
the coast of Southern California nearly every year. See some of
them captured on film from the coastal community of Three Arch
Bay.
The Tsunami Arrives at Dana Point Harbor!
