Tsunami Causes Boat Damage in San Diego

A late night second Tsunami Surge Caused More Damage

"It wasn't broke like that when I left at 9pm." says Billy Roach.

Roach's boat was one of several damaged early Saturday morning when another Tsunami surge moved thorugh Mission Bay.  Lifeguards say the surge around 1:30am caused a 100,000 pound barge to break free for the second time in less than 12 hours.

 "The tip of it actually made contact with two vessels that were tied up to the end ties." said Lifeguard Sgt. Rich Stropky.

By Saturday morning,a portion of the dock at Seaforth Marina was crushed, multiple cement pylons had been displaced and several boats had been pushed into one another.

A tsunami caused by a powerful earthquake in Japan first broke the barge Friday afternoon in Mission Bay’s Quivira Basin, causing damage to multiple boats and keeping lifeguards busy.

The barge split into two pieces in a boat-dense area, threatening the adjacent dock.

“I don’t even know how to explain it," said Tony Crawford, who witnessed the first barge breakaway. "It was something I’ve never seen in my life."

He was on "No Limits," a private boat docked at Quivira Basin, when the barge drifted into the side of the boat.

"It scraped the side pretty bad," Crawford said.  "I was speechless."

The sudden surge of water created a push and pull with the barge.  Several boats were tied to it, but even with full throttle, the barge continued to drift in the direction of the powerful current.

By 9 p.m., lifeguards finally gained a handle on it.

The Quivira Basin is located east of Mariners Basin and west of Sea World. There were no reported injuries.

Otherwise, there was little to see in San Diego from a tsunami deriving from a devastating 8.9 earthquake feared of claiming at least 1,000 lives in Japan.

Many people ignored local authority warnings and came to San Diego’s shoreline with their cameras or surfboards expecting a show. Despite water receding by as much as 3 feet in some areas, the majority walked away disappointed.

Ocean Beach resident Ali Shareef said he saw nothing special on a foggy Friday morning near the pier.

“So far, it looks pretty normal for right now,” Shareef said. “I haven't seen anything different from the regular waves that normally come through. But hey, we're hoping for action.”

Surfer Mark Hudman hit the Ocean Beach water without much excitement.

“Really, there’s nothing much out there,” Hudman said. “I was expecting some, but nothing came.”

In La Jolla, Roshan Moayed and Kim Smith, who were visitors from Houston, overlooked the shore from a large cliff.

Moayed said they “wanted to see a huge wave.”

They didn’t.

“Nothing happened,” Smith said. “Kind of a letdown, but it’s OK … We got to see sea lions, so that was pretty cool.”

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