Earthquake in Chile

[KnottedYet]

I don't know if you looked at the map, but the tsunami "warnings" predicted waves I think 1-2 cm higher than normal for Australia, not much more than that for Hawaii. I can't find an archived copy of the map now.

3-6 feet. 1-2 m.

The descriptions of the water sucking away from the beaches in Hawaii before the surges this week (which came every 20 minutes) really gave me the creeps. Especially when I remember the bad tsunami in 2004 and how all those people went out onto the beach as the water sucked away. And then it came back in...

One thing we all learned from 2004 is not to run after the water, and if we are ever on a beach and see it sucking away, run to high ground.

I could see why the surfers in Australia would want to surf in that, but the bigger worry (especially here, with our channels and islands) beyond the additional 3-6 foot wave height is the way currents change with that kind of surge. Surfers may know the currents well, but they can completely change with a tsunami, even if it's only 1-2m.

And, of course, depending on the slope of the beach, a wave 3-6 feet higher than normal can travel quite a distance inland. Even if it's only waist high when it gets to you, standing on what you thought was high ground, it can knock your feet out from under you. Heck, I've been knocked over by knee high water moving fast enough.