Tsunami Watch…
Off the shore of Alaska tonight there was a big quake and one buoy showed a thirty-foot rise, so alerts and watches went out all over, from Alaska down to California and Mexico.
Now here on the Oregon Coast, we have two of our three retail stores, including our bookstore, about eight feet above sea level. Even a ten foot surge which would have hit at about a plus-four foot high tide. That would have done real damage to our stores.
So Kris and I were monitoring everything we could for the last two hours.
Billy, our store manager was doing the same. And so was Allyson, the publisher and person who runs all our businesses.
We figured if there was a surge headed this way (showing by how it hit Alaska coast and BC) we would have barely enough time to head out to our stores and get stuff on top of things and get the expensive stuff out. But it would have basically wiped out those two stores.
Thankfully for millions of people along this part of the Pacific Coast and in Hawaii, the earthquake did not generate a large surge.
No one on the East coast in the major news channels even noticed. They were more concerned with Cheetos’ tweets about something. Head-shaking.
So as I type this, the watch has been lifted. We got lucky. This time.
The entire west coast of the US and Canada got lucky.
Been a long night for a lot of people.
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February 15-18, 2018
— Controlling Fear of Failure
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March 15-18th
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— Controlling Fear of Failure
April 12-15th
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Class #13… Feb 6th … Think Like a Publisher
Class #14… Feb 6th … Endings
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Class #16… Feb 6th … Writing Mysteries
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Class #19… Feb 7th … Depth in Writing
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Class #23… Feb 7th … Advanced Depth
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Class #25… Mar 6th … Depth #3: Research
Class #26… Mar 6th … Author Voice
Class #27… Mar 6th … Business
Class #28… Mar 6th … Writing into the Dark
Class #29… Mar 6th … Writing Fiction Sales Copy
Class #30… Mar 6th … Writing and Selling Short Stories
Class #31… Mar 7th … Depth in Writing
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Class #35… Mar 7th … Novel Structure
Class #36… Mar 7th … Writing Fantasy
Yes I heard that this morning that BC was under alert. I think that is the first time I have ever heard that here in Canada. Glad nothing happened. Of course they always say that the islands will go under one day. That is scary.
Glad you and your businesses are okay!
So glad the worst didn’t hit! Scary stuff. This is the first I’ve heard of a surge. I’ve been off TV, but I haven’t seen anything even on the news alerts popups on my phone. You’d think that would make national news!
Glad to hear everyone (and everything) is okay! My parents live on the Washington coast, so tsunami awareness is a thing. Thrilled this didn’t turn into a disaster.
Kind of ridiculous that it got more coverage on Twitter and my local, St. Louis news than on national news.
Sandbags are your friends. Or something you could use as a barrier. Of course it all depends on how bad it was. It’s possible nothing would help, but think ahead to blocking and diverting for next time.
I am very glad it missed. I can’t imagine getting one store weather ready let alone three. I didn’t hear about the tsunami here on the east coast. Just the government shut down things because we live near dc and are pretty affected by that.
Stay warm and dry.
Oh my. I am so glad you guys are okay.
I heard about the earthquake and Tsunami warning when I got up at 4:30 this morning. Alarm clock woke me up to the news. Very scary stuff, even here in New Jersey.
So glad to hear you’re okay out there.
Thought I came by yesterday. Heard early in the morning on Facebook from friends who live out that way–immediately thought of you and Kris. Glad nothing came of it, but I had no doubt it was a very long night…
All up and down the coast the official emergency services seem to have generally worked well. Here in Victoria emergency services started evacuated people at risk by even a small surge as soon as the first buoy reading came in. Many were not prepared to evacuate with five minutes notice, but they did anyway. Good for them. Maybe next time they will have an emergency kit ready to throw in the car as they head out the door.
Lots of relatives on the coast here in Northern California. Lots of nail biting. Like you said, lucky.
Read and heard about it in New York City. Very glad you’re safe and your property is not damaged. I have friends in Alaska were really terrified there for a while.