Jefferson County, Port Townsend and Port of Port Townsend officials met Monday to discuss preliminary data regarding tsunami risks facing the region.
Jefferson County Emergency Management Co-Managers Bob Hamlin and Bob Minty briefed them on the probable effects of a 9.2 earthquake occurring in the Cascadia Subduction Zone off Washington’s coast.
Ten-foot high waves would reach Port Townsend in about two hours, inundating lower-lying areas such as downtown Port Townsend, Point Hudson, Point Wilson and the Boat Haven boat and shipyard at the Port.
The water would slosh around Puget Sound as if it were in a giant bathtub, causing multiple waves to wash ashore, the co-managers said.
Emergency officials would have trouble warning Quimper Peninsula residents of the impending disaster because of the absence of a commercial radio station serving the county.
But even if they had an effective tool to warn people, Hamlin and Minty said the word needs to get out that people must head for higher ground in the event of a tsunami.
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