Friday, March 11, 2011

Tsunami Advisory in Ucluelet and Tofino region until 6 p.m. today

Today is not a day for surfing - I have been watching the Tsunami advisory coverage since 2-2:30 a.m.-ish after the loudspeakers from a boat docked nearby woke me out of a sound sleep. The sea lions were wailing a complaint even more plaintive than before the last thunder storm.

I checked the link to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Information www.wcatwc.arh.noa.gov kindly posted by Geoff at www.longbeachradio.ca  last night. The area had been upgraded from an alert to an advisory.

I called the RCMP who advised me to set my alarm for early as the first wave was expected to reach us around 7 a.m. Instead, news junkie that I am, I watched the online coverage on Hawaii most of the night.

My bag was already packed and I was about to head out with the dogs when the local fire department knocked at my door around 6:30 this a.m. to suggest moving to higher ground.

I've been stationed at cynamoka - www.cynamoka.ca ever since, checking on the dogs in the car regularly. Owl had a bad night last night and has been experiencing some pain. I wanted to go home awhile ago but there was quite a bit of churn in the harbour - with the low tide going out and surges pushing in over them it resembled an eddy. We've all been watching the harbour cam with its dramatically changing currents and online sources like CNN and CBC for coverage.

Russell just came in to say that out by Millstream at around 8:30 a.m. the low tide appeared to be at high tide and then it was all sucked out of the harbour a moment later. Similar to what I saw on the Hawaiian coverage earlier this morning. Another customer agreed, saying it was like the harbour was breathing.

There is a lot of whitewater churning in the harbour again and a hint of sun further down - not able to go home yet then. I will keep you updated as much as I can.

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