March 28, 1964 Gulf of Alaska Tsunami - Whittier Narrative
Passage from Lander (1996):
"On the afternoon train were Mrs. Francis Damon, her 16 year old son Larry from
Soldotna, and David Barnes, an employee of the Two Brothers Lumber Company who
was returning from a week's absence. Larry was planning on helping Lewis
Mickelson, another employee of the lumber company, to get his boat ready for the
fishing season. The Barnes and Mickelsons were friends in nearly identical
situations, both raising three small children, two boys and a daughter, each
being 6 years old and younger, without the mothers. Both lived in company
housing near the waterfront. As the 27th was Lewis Mickelson's birthday, all
ten had gathered at his house for a birthday dinner by 5:30 P.M.
Another couple - Leonard Day, a caretaker at the lumber company, and his wife,
Alberta- also lived in company housing. He was retiring and they expected to
leave in a week for the "Lower 48." (Norton and Haas, 1970, P.132).
Within 45 seconds of the onset of the earthquake shaking that had started slowly
and quickly became violent, the first oil storage tank failed as its bottom
moved away. About 1 minute after the shaking started the first wave rose
glassy-smooth over the bank. A returning breaking wave flooded the lower part
of town to a height of 25 to 26 feet above lower low water, the water level at
that time. Low tide was predicted for 6:16 P.M. at -0.16 feet. About one
minute later a second breaking wave hit at a height of about 40 feet causing
great destruction to the railroad yards. The maximum height reported in
Whittier was 43 feet near the small boat harbor location at that time. A
witness reported seeing a wall of water coming ashore. Offshore the water had
the appearance of something having exploded underneath the canal about 50 yards
off shore. A third breaking wave hit about a minute later with a height of 30
feet (Chance, 1970, P. 122). The ten people at the Mickelson's home and the
Day's were washed away and never found. These were all due to local landslide
tsunamis.
At the time of the initial shock and first small wave, Jerry Ware, a railroad
maintenance man, was standing at the car-barge dock. He drove to his house near
the depot for his wife and six-month old daughter. A wave came in the window
and smashed the trailer, throwing Mrs. Ware clear but washed away Gerian, the
infant. Ware was swept through the porch wall and rode and swam with the porch
door. He found his wife in the mud and water clear of the trailer. She had
serious injuries, with pieces of wood embedded in her body, a fractured ankle
and an injured shoulder. She was airlifted out of Whittier the next afternoon
on the first flight out and eventually evacuated to Seattle where she recovered.
Her baby was found alive in a snow bank but died shortly afterwards. Mrs Ware
was the only serious injury from the tsunami or earthquake at Whittier (Norton
and Haas, 1970, p. 312)."
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