People and danger

Kay Crothers, a News Cut reader and an ex-pat Minnesotan, dropped me an e-mail from her home in Crescent City, California a little after lunch today to report that the tsunami had reached her community, and at least one of the waves came in around 9 feet. Her community is just south of the border of Oregon, and appears to be one of the hardest-hit U.S. areas from the tsunami..

“Surges continue, and now high tide is coming,” she wrote in an e-mail a little after 4 (CT) today. “The port is closed and it sounds like the harbor is essentially destroyed. There is a storm inbound, so now those small craft that put to sea in advance of the tsunami are looking for safe harbor to put in so they don’t have to ride out 20 foot storm waves.”

Happily, she notes, the radio station in town has been working hard to dispel rumors and keep people informed.

Here’s a pretty impressive video from there…

Just south of there — near the mouth of the Klamath River — a man walking on the beach to see what the fuss was about and take some pictures, was swept out to sea.

Officials had warned people to stay away.

About 7 hours south of there, officials urged gawkers not to hang around on the beach waiting for the tsunami to arrive. Then the gawkers showed up…

5:03 p.m. – Colleague Than Tibbetts has passed along this video of a fool in Hawaii this morning doing what people who know better told him not to do:

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