Tsunami ‘could kill thousands’ plunging West Coast under 10 FEET with massive 9.0 earthquake predicted, scientists claim

SCIENTISTS are warning that thousands of people could die if a predicted 9.0 earthquake triggers a tsunami leaving parts of the West Coast under 10 feet of water.

The predicted quake could result in a wall of water hitting low-lying coastal neighborhoods in Washington, Oregon, and northern California within 15 minutes.

GettyThe predicted quake could hit the west coast with a tsunami[/caption]

Washington State Department of Natural ResourcesThe maps released by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources show the speed with which water could hit[/caption]

Researchers issued a chilling warning that the chances of a megaquake on the Cascadia fault in the next 50 years are one in nine.

The likelihood of a smaller but still powerful quake is also one in three, the New York Times reports.

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is a “megathrust” fault located roughly 70 miles offshore and running from Cape Mendocino in California all the way to British Columbia. 

It runs more for than 600 miles, parallel to the US Pacific Coast.

It’s called a subduction zone because it contains a layer of the earth’s crust on the ocean floor that is being pushed and pulled under the Norther American Plate, which covers the entire continent.

These types of faults are known to generate the largest known earthquakes on the planet.

“Every day, on average, they are being pushed together at about the rate fingernails grow,” Corina Allen, chief hazards geologist in Washington state, told the Times.

“Every year that the earthquake doesn’t happen, there’s a higher chance that it will the next year.”

Last month, geologists in the Washington Geological Survey released a new study and maps showing the catastrophic impact a large earthquake on the faultline could have on the Pacific North West.

The model showed that 70,000 people would likely be within the lowlands engulfed by a large tsunami if it occurred.

It added that 32,000 of them would have no high ground to escape to within the 15 minutes before the water hit, the Times reports.

A survey in Oregon shows that between 5,000 and 20,000 people could die along the coast in a similar event.

TSUNAMI MAPS

The Washington maps showed low-lying coastal communities under as much as 30 to 100 feet of water, depending on the area.

A high of about 100 feet could reach Yellow Banks Beach in Olympic National Park.

The lower end of the model showed about 5 feet at the New Dungeness Lighthouse in Dungeness.

Other significant sites include Griffiths-Priday State Park at Copalis Beach at 53 feet, the Lower Hoh Tribal Center at 43 feet, and Discovery Bay at 33 feet, according to the study.

Several sections of State Route 112 and US Highway 101 would be made impassible, it added.

According to the model, flooding depths on land are expected to reach or exceed 60 feet along most Pacific coast beaches.

“People hear about a one to three-foot wave, they think it’s not a big deal, I see waves that big all the time,” Harold Tobin, who has spent decades studying subducting faults and tsunamis, told KING5.

“It’s not the same thing.  A tsunami is a rush of water…like a tide coming in.  And it’s moving a lot faster than you can outrun it.”

WAVES IN TEN MINUTES

The maps also outlined just how fast the incoming water would submerge these areas.

The study found the first tsunami waves would reach La Push within 10 minutes from the start of the earthquake, with the crest reaching many locations along the Pacific coast within 30 minutes.

The first rising waves of the tsunami also travel into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, reaching Port Angeles about one hour after the earthquake.

“Understanding the currents and where they’re the fastest, is incredibly important,” Allen explained. 

The tsunami would first arrive as a trough, with sea levels gradually receding in all inner coastal waterway locations. 

Currents from the tsunami would move swiftly, exceeding nine knots off the coastline and within some areas along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, posting navigational hazards for the maritime community. 

The model does not account for tide stages or local tsunamis triggered by earthquake-induced landslides.

Local crustal faults may still represent a larger hazard for some communities.

COASTAL PREPARATIONS

The last Cascadia rupture was 321 years ago, and experts estimate a 10 to 17 percent chance that Washington experiences another in the next 50 years, according to Washington’s Department of Natural Resources.

The new study was conducted to help develop preparation and response plans for those areas along the coast that a Cascadia earthquake and tsunami would affect.

“There won’t be time for our coastal communities to react after a major earthquake, so it’s vital we provide these detailed models and keep our communities safe when – not if – the next Cascadia mega-quake hits,” said Wahington Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz.

It comes as residents in the Pacific Ocean community in Washington state vote on Tuesday on a measure that will raise more than $100million to build tsunami-safe schools in the area.

The money would transform two schools in the North Beach School District into tsunami-safe evacuation centers that could hold up to 2,000 people.

Pacific Beach Elementary School is among the vulnerable schools in the area.

The study showed that it would be covered by as much as 29 feet of water after a major coastal earthquake.

“In my mind, it would be just morally unconscionable not to try to improve the safety outlook for our children,” Andrew Kelly, school superintendent of North Beach School District, told The Independent.

 “I try to never speak about things that I don’t know,” he added of the potential tsunami.

“But I will tell you that all of the scientists who have the best understanding of what a tsunami would do to this community – we would lose every single one of our children if it happens during school.”

“I just feel like we can’t afford to do that. I feel like we should try to create safer structures.”

The model showed some areas hit by 100ft waves