2011 Tsunami
The Port of Brookings-Harbor awoke hours before dawn to learn that there was an undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0, to the East of Japan's Oshika Peninsula at 05:46 (UTC) on Friday, March 11, 2011. Brookings time was 10:45 p.m. Thursday, March 10, 2011.
Chris Cantwell, the Port's Operation Supervisor had been at the Port since receiving the news @ 02:00 and knew he had not yet seen the damage he was sure would come. Little did he know that before the day was out, the Port would succumb to more than $7.1 million in damages.
Ted Fitzgerald, Manager of the Port of Brookings Harbor arrived several hours after Chris and, prepared for the high waves by tying up boats and helping Chris keep abreast of the Tsunami's movements.
Michaelle Hamblin, Manager at the Beachfront RV Park, and her son Tyler, complied with Ted's directions, and began evacuating people from the Port's Beachfront RV Park. The evacuation was swift and very orderly.
As Ted worked his way around the Port, he was told that twelve commercial vessels safely crossed the bar shortly after 06:00 and, he breathed a sigh of relief - knowing (as each Skipper knew), the sea was the safest place to be.
Credit to Jeff Manning, The Oregonian, March 12, 2011.
Although the greatest damage was in the Commercial Basin, the tsunami was not selective and managed to leave an imprint in multiple places. The Lion's Whelp, a 1929 wood vessel was destroyed, the Pegrin - a pleasure boat was swept out to sea and destroyed, the Haida, a 230-ton fishing vessel was torn loose when multiple sailing and fishing vessels were torn from their docks or sunk, plowed into it and set it in motion at the mercy of the next surge.
Governor Kitzhaber and his staff swiftly communicated with the Port of Brookings-Harbor Manager, Ted Fitzgerald and Commissioner, Jim Relaford, offering their support for securing financing for damages. The entire staff in the Governor's office and Congressman, Peter DeFazio and Senators' Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley were zealous about offering their time and services.
Without the assistance and support of the above people, the process of trying to wade through mounds of forms needed to begin to recover damages and rebuild a damaged Port, would have been a "nightmare" and the Port of Brookings-Harbor extends a gracious "thank you" to those individuals mentioned in the above paragraph.
Read more about the March 11, 2011 Tsunami...
[1] Tsunami Sinks Boat - Brookings, Oregon [Photograph] Ed Hesse Photography, March 11, 2011.
