LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – That The National Weather Service issued a tsunami alert for all beaches in Southern California after an underwater volcanic eruption near the Pacific nation of Tonga.
In Orange County, the sheriff’s department did their best to warn anyone out on the beach that it was potentially unsafe.
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“Attention in the area, this is the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, this is a tsunami advice,” deputies announced over the loudspeaker from their chopper.
January 15, 2022 (CBSLA)
While most beaches were barren, there were still plenty of surfers out riding the waves in Newport Beach.
“I was expecting the big tsunami wave, but it never came in,” said surfer Sam Williams.
Another surfer, Joshua Useldinger, said he was also hoping for some bigger waves than he found when asked if he had heard of the advice.
“Yeah, it was really exciting. I thought it would make it better, but it felt a little flat,” he said.
The epicenter of the operation was in the South Pacific country of Tonga, where satellite images from the NWS showed an underwater volcano erupting.
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Satellite image of the underwater eruption where the epicenter is in Tonga in the South Pacific.
In the northern California city of Half Moon Bay, waves of water crashed ashore as a result of the eruption, but in Southern California, the NWS did not expect any flooding of water, although they warned that strong rip currents could be dangerous.
None of this, however, deterred surfers like Useldinger who had to play a little cat and mouse with the authorities.
“You just have to wait until they go, then you go in,” he said.
The tsunami advice also did not stop some Manhattan Beach residents, such as Katherine Strohlein and Joanna Garel, from going to the shoreline in hopes of seeing something unusual.
“… then came the tsunami warning and I said, ‘Plan D.’ She says, “No guy. Let’s look at the tsunami!” Strohlein said about Garel.
“Sorry. We’re supposed to listen to the warning,” Garel replied, “but we’re kind of rebels, stupidity.”
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NWS said tsunamis are not typically started this way. Most often they come after an underwater earthquake, but in this case it was an underwater explosion of molten rock and lava that displaced the sea above it.
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