(KTLA) An 8.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred in Eastern Russia has prompted a tsunami watch for coastal areas of the western United States.
The quake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, struck at 4:25 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time at a depth of around 11 miles 80 miles southeast of Petropavlovsk Kamchatka.
The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands, and a watch for portions of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, and Washington, and Hawaii.
The advisory also includes a vast swath of Alaska’s coast line, including parts of the panhandle.
Dave Snider, tsunami warning coordinator with the National Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska, said Tuesday evening he had not heard of any specific reports of damage from the tsunami generated by the 8.8-magnitued earthquake.
Forecasted maximum tsunami heights ranged from less than 1 foot to about 5 feet (less than 30 centimeters to 1.5 meters) across parts of Alaska, Oregon, Washington and California, with higher levels projected in isolated areas.
The center said some places could still be feeling impacts from the tsunami for hours or perhaps more than a day.
“A tsunami is not just one wave,” Snider said. “It’s a series of powerful waves over a long period of time. Tsunamis cross the ocean at hundreds of miles an hour as fast as a jet airplane in deep water. But when they get close to the shore, they slow down and start to pile up. And that’s where that inundation problem becomes a little bit more possible there.”
A tsunami warning also was extended to the U.S. state of Hawaii, with the National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center saying a tsunami from the quake had been generated that could cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands.
“Tsunami waves reaching one to three meters above the tide level are possible along some coasts of the northwestern Hawaiian Islands,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported.
Traffic was backed up in some neighborhoods in Honolulu, and officials were preparing to open a mountain pass as an evacuation route out of Waianae, a coastal community on the island of Oahu, said sate Rep. Darius Kila. Even though it’s summer break, some schools issued alerts canceling sports and other activities.
Residents in coastal areas under a tsunami watch or warning are urged to stay alert for additional updates and be aware of estimated tsunami start times.
These watches and warnings will remain in effect until further notice.
A tsunami has already hit coastal areas of Russia’s Kuril Islands and Japan’s large northern island of Hokkaido following the quake.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
