EDITOR’S NOTE: With hourly emergency alerts since yesterday evening July 29, 2025 at about 6pm, the Tsunami Advisory was cancelled at about 11am today, July 30, 2025. The Pioneer’s Gordon McCraw provides a summary and comparison to the March 2011 tsunami warnings and reminds everyone that this was just a “test” of our emergency preparedness – did you know what to do? Did you know where to go to evacuate? The tsunami advisory may be cancelled, emergency management advises to use caution around the ocean due to increase debris and stronger then normal waves. And, really always recreate with caution and safety in mind on our ocean beaches – never turn your back on the ocean is just one small reminder that it’s always mother nature that’s in charge. Did you get alerts from your local county Emergency Management? Get Nixle alerts or signup for alerts from tsunami.gov. There’s LOTS of emergency preparedness information available at www.tillamookcounty.gov/emergency-management
By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist and Emergency Preparedness for the Tillamook County Pioneer
As many of you know, in addition to being your favorite weather forecaster, I was also the Emergency Manager for Tillamook County back in March of 2011. This was the date of our last Tsunami scare which was the result of the large 9.1 earthquake near Honshu, Japan. While the tsunami produced by this quake did give us a measurable tsunami here in Tillamook County, we had no damage. The same cannot be said in some of the ports south of Tillamook, into Lincoln County southward. A lot was learned during this event by both the local emergency responders and the Tsunami Warning Center. With each event, more information is available for analysis leading to more accurate forecasts by the Center, and much is learned by local Emergency Managers, Preparedness Organizations, and citizens.
During the 2011 Japanese event, Tillamook County ordered the evacuation of the coastal lowlands and residences along the coast from north of Manzanita, to south of Pacific City. While it ended up not affecting the area to the extent expected, everyone learned a lot from this event. It took 9 hours for the Japan tsunami generated by the 9.1 earthquake to reach the Oregon Coast, while the one yesterday was an 8.7 quake and that tsunami took about 12 hours to reach the Oregon Coast. We learned that during the Japan tsunami response, we over evacuated, and being larger and closer than the quake yesterday, we understood the effects yesterday would be less than what we saw back in 2011.
So, looking at the tidal data from yesterday, I see that the tsunami was actually less than a half a foot on the Garabaldi gauges. The tsunami back in 2011 gave us a tsunami that was over a foot, but as I recall, we had some significate seas already, so it was hard to detect in all that surf, but was detectable in the tidal gauges.
So, what did we learn from this one? For individuals that were not around for the 2011 event, hopefully you learned a lot, but most importantly, that you now live in an area where emergency preparedness needs to be moved higher on your list of things to do. Do you know where the inundation zones are, where the evacuation routes are, what the difference is between a distant tsunami and one generated by the Cascadia Subduction Zone off the coast of Oregon? Do you have an emergency kit, an emergency plan, a communication plan, are you and your family on the same page and know what is expected of you at home or work, and what each family member should do? If you need some planning assistance, Ready.gov is a good site to look at for assistance and recommendations. If you already have a plan, it’s time to review and refine the plan as things change over time, and is your ready kit full of expired items, it’s time to look at it again also!
The Oregon Coast was put under a Tsunami Watch which was then downgraded to a Tsunami Advisory. Hawaii was put under a Tsunami Warning. All these can be confusing so I have included what they mean to give you a better understanding. This was not the first Tsunami event for our area, and you can bet it won’t be the last. Remember, it is better to have a plan you don’t need…than to need a plan you don’t have!
- Tsunami Warning: Take Action—Danger! A tsunami that may cause widespread flooding is expected or occurring. Dangerous coastal flooding and powerful currents are possible and may continue for several hours or days after initial arrival.
Follow instructions from local officials. Evacuation is recommended. Move to high ground or inland (away from the water). - Tsunami Advisory: Take Action—A tsunami with potential for strong currents or waves dangerous to those in or very near the water is expected or occurring. There may be flooding of beach and harbor areas. Stay out of the water and away from beaches and waterways. Follow instructions from local officials.
- Tsunami Watch: Be Prepared—A distant earthquake has occurred. A tsunami is possible.
Stay tuned for more information. Be prepared to take action if necessary. - Tsunami Information Statement: Relax—An earthquake has occurred, but there is no threat or it was very far away and the threat has not been determined. In most cases, there is no threat of a destructive tsunami.
Here are the Garibaldi tide tables for both yesterday’s event and the event from 2011 for comparison.
March 11, 2011, and you can see the waves continued for more than a day!
Table from July 29-30, 2025, the levels are much smaller but again, the waves will continue for more than a day.
