California Tsunami Evacuation Left Room for Improvement

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(TNS) — A magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook Thursday — and while Humboldt County evaded major structural damage and injuries, many locals bungled the tsunami evacuation.

Of particular concern was a traffic snarl around downtown Eureka following the state-wide tsunami warning. Roads like 4th and 5th streets slowed to a stop as people tried to evacuate by car. If the earthquake injured anyone or if it created a significant tsunami, the traffic jam would have blocked emergency response. Cal Poly Humboldt geology professor and earthquake expert Lori Dengler wrote a column published on Saturday reviewing how the community responded to the tsunami warning. Her verdict? “Abysmal.”

“If we have a place burning or people drowning along the waterfront, (not) being to be able to get our public safety vehicles down there, that can be a significant issue.” said Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery.

Next time, he advised people in Old Town’s inundation zone to walk a couple blocks to get to safety, rather than being stuck in traffic in a tsunami zone.

“If you’re on the waterfront, let’s say at Madaket Plaza, you only have to walk three blocks to get out of there,” said Slattery. South of Fourth Street and east of Broadway are out of the tsunami zone for Eureka.

The city plans to divert cars coming from Arcata to V Street, uphill, to reduce U.S. Highway 101 traffic coming from the north for the next tsunami threat.

Slattery also noted the tsunami siren on Woodley Island did not go off on Thursday after it finally stopped working in March. He said the city wants the siren replaced, as people kayaking or hiking around the waterfront may not have phones with them.

Ryan Derby, Humboldt Office of Emergency Services manager, said it became evident Thursday that messaging from the office isn’t reaching as many people as he’d like, as some people were frantically researching tsunami inundation maps on Thursday after the earthquake struck.

“We’ve heard that there were conflicting maps available online. We always recommend that people use the California Geologic Survey and Redwood Coast Tsunami Working Groups map because that is the most up-to-date current map for tsunami inundation in Humboldt County,” he said. These most current maps are available here: rctwg.humboldt.edu/tsunami-hazard-maps

Many in Humboldt County received three emergency alerts — an early earthquake warning triggered by a quake above 5.0, the National Tsunami Warning Center’s tsunami warning, and later a Humboldt Alert issued by the OES office. Derby said this has sparked some confusion.

“If you feel like you’re in potential danger, you don’t need to wait for government emergency alerts to tell you to take a safety action,” he said. Derby said it’s essential for people to know the zones and evacuation route ahead of time. And any time there’s a large, violent and long earthquake in Humboldt County, if you live in a coastal area, you should get to higher ground, he said.

The Office of Emergency Services will conduct a formal after-action review.

Closer to the epicenter, Jac Hargrave, battalion chief at the Shelter Cove Volunteer Fire District, said the community there did an excellent job — the tsunami sirens went off and 20 or so people evacuated from the waterfront area of the cove to higher ground.

“Actually, what it turned into being was a fantastic drill,” he said.

One hiccup was a planned power outage that happened to coincide with the quake. Radio communications were down with the emergency command center in Fortuna, though cell phones worked.

“We’re going to be looking into another, new standby generator just for that, just in case,” he said.

The state responded quickly Thursday, with President pro tempore of the California State Senate Mike McGuire noting that speed is essential for disasters.

“Within minutes of the earthquake, I was on the phone with State Director of the Office Emergency Services Nancy Ward. We moved the emergency management team in. It’s a group of emergency managers to be able to assist Humboldt with venture recovery efforts, providing relief efforts like standing up shelters or food distribution or medical care. And it was a group of 10 emergency managers from across northern California that immediately came into Humboldt to be able to assist with any and all needs,” he said.

The governor’s office also declared a state of emergency for three counties.

“We dodged a bullet. That’s an understatement, right?” McGuire said.

Derby said anyone with damage should report it through a county form so the office can capture what happened and potentially seek federal assistance. So far, he said there’s been very few reports of structural damage. The county form may be accessed at https://humboldtgov.org/FormCenter/Office-of-Emergency-Services-23/Damage-Report-2024-December-Earthquake-251