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2011 Tsunami Destroyed Crescent City Harbor

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Goodbye Harbor, Hello Disaster

Crescent City, California, a sleepy little seaport village on the coast near the Oregon border suffered yet another disaster in the wake of the Japanese earthquake in early 2011. This was not the first time the harbor had been destroyed, nor was it the worst tidal wave the city suffered, but the economic impact will continue to be felt long after the clean-up has been completed.

Crescent City is my home town and although I live far away, most of my family still resides there. This lens is intended to be a place for me to gather all the information I can find that's relevant to this situation, and as such, will grow and develop over time. If you experienced this tragedy, I encourage you to share your story below. If you have information I've overlooked, there is a place for you to share that, and if you would like to share greetings and cheer the good people of Crescent City on, there's a place for that, as well.

Google Maps

The Harbor Has Always Been the Heart of the Town

Crescent City is built around the first natural harbor north of the San Francisco Bay

This is a photo I took while at the harbor for one of the car shows that is held there each year by a local car club. The harbor is a popular place for festivals, although in recent years the number has been reduced in large part due to the high costs of insurance.

Harbor before the Tsunami

View from above

This photo is part of a Google Earth photo, I believe. It came to me by email. As you can see, the inner boat basin was full when this photo was taken. I don't think it was quite that full when the Tsunami hit, but only because there have been so many other problems with the fisheries and I'm not entirely sure that the damage from the small tsunami in 2006 was ever totally repaired. However, you can see from this photo how the inner boat basin was set up - it really puts the next photo into perspective.

Crescent City Harbor Inner Boat Basin AFTER the 2011 Tsunami

Quite a difference, yes?

This photo also came to me by email, so I am not sure who took it, but it shows how little of the harbor remains. This is a HUGE blow to the entire community.

If you would like to help the city rebuild the harbor:

Donations gladly accepted here:

City of Crescent City
attention: Harbor Relief Fund
377 J St.
Crescent City, CA. 95531

Donations in any amount gladly accepted

Links to photos and other stories

Destruction from Tsunami in Crescent City, CA Harbor - CNN iReport: These are pictures taken the day after the tsunami that totally destroyed Crescent City, CA's harbor on March 11, 2011. (Ten photos, one short report)
Unified Command responders survey tsunami damage: US Coast Guard surveys of several harbors, including Crescent City's.

Current Blogs that Mention Crescent City

House transportation bill backs offshore drilling: Mike Thompson surveys damage Saturday at the Crescent City Harbor, which sustained the most damage of any harbor along the California coast after the Japan earthquake triggered a tsunami. Tea Party politics and trillion-dollar-plus federal budget ...
Locals to attend fisheries forum in Sacramento today; effect of marijuana ...: The California Channel will webcast the entire forum live and archive the broadcast on its website at www.calchannel.com. Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro, D-Arcata, will open the meeting, which will be held before members of the Legislature's Joint ...
New Orleans between meals: When you've had your fill of eating and drinking yourself silly, check out these activities: Less than 30 minutes from the city, the Barataria Preserve outside Marrero offers a snapshot of South Louisiana wildlife. Part of the Jean Lafitte National ...
High school results, Feb. 22: Email results to highschoolsports@thestar.ca. TORONTO DISTRICT Sr. Girls' Hockey Tier 2 ? Northview 7 (Brittany Kucera 3, Charlotte Lucas 2, Cristina Morila, Amanda Muniz), Wexford 2 (Melissa Laking 2); Sir Oliver Mowat 9 (Kaleigh Dixon, Katie Roberts, ...

News about Crescent City's Tsunami Damage

Crescent City Harbor District to meet on tsunami damage: The Crescent City Harbor District's Board of Commissioners will meet Tuesday to discuss accepting a revised settlement offer from Allianz Insurance for damage to the Citizens Dock during the March 11, 2011, tsunami event. The board will also discuss ...
House transportation bill backs offshore drilling: Mike Thompson surveys damage Saturday at the Crescent City Harbor, which sustained the most damage of any harbor along the California coast after the Japan earthquake triggered a tsunami. Tea Party politics and trillion-dollar-plus federal budget ...
25 Million Tons of Tsunami Debris Headed Our Way: Is This the End of Beach ...: Don't forget, this was a California tsunami too. The Effect of the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami on the California Coastline: When the tsunami arrived, it caused significant damage to harbors throughout California with Crescent City and Santa Cruz bearing the ...
Locals to attend fisheries forum in Sacramento today; effect of marijuana ...: ... talk about permitting issues surrounding vessels affected by the tsunami last year in Crescent City. Pellegrini said after the tsunami, fishing permits were transferred from damaged vessels to large, out-of-state boats instead of California boats.

Eleven people perished in the 1964 Tidal Wave at Crescent City

Rare Footage of the 1964 Tidal Wave (now called tsunami)

Video from YouTube - uploaded by mcab1993

Videos from YouTube featuring the 2011 Tsunami

A Live Feed of 10 videos based on keywords "Crescent City harbor damage"

Coast Guard Post Tsunami Damage Overflight Crescent City, California: by CoastGuardNews | video info

19 ratings | 51,195 views

automatically generated by YouTube

The Del Norte Triplicate is the Local Newspaper in Crescent City

This is an RSS feed of the headlines

I was not able to sort headlines by tsunami related articles only, so this will include obituaries and other news of note. However, as I find specific news links I'll be adding them to the links list above. Until then, this will have to do.

Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

I've made other lenses about Crescent City & surrounding area

you may find these interesting ... I hope so!

This is how I want to remember the harbor

I took this photo last time I was up there

Feedback, Comments and Conversations

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lisadh Jan 4, 2012 @ 6:08 pm | delete

I don't remember hearing about this at all. I think so much attention was on Japan that I missed this tragedy in my own backyard.

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Ladymermaid Dec 7, 2011 @ 7:03 pm | delete

It is so sad when natural disasters affect the livelihood of so many people. It seems there are so many tsunami, earthquakes, and tornadoes lately. Very sad.

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SaintFrantic Oct 9, 2011 @ 2:23 pm | delete

That's really terrible.Hope everything is alright now.

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thesuccess Apr 10, 2011 @ 4:33 am | delete

I thought that the wave which arrived in the USA was just a baby but obviously not for Crescent City Harbor. I was in France when there was a great storm about 10 years ago, all the yachts were smashed up into a heap!