rapidly ahead of it. Still another, but lesser, wave rolled in about 

 10:15 and apparently started a fire at the Union Oil Company tanks 

 (Bracken, 196k; Chance, I968; Gilson, SEA interview, I966). The large 

 yacht, Gypsy, at this time was lodged alongside the ferry slip, and had 

 an open seam near her keel. In the later waves of that night, she was 

 carried out to sea and was sighted from the Chena far out in Port Valdez, 

 in a waterlogged condition. By dawn only the cabin was floating (Bracken, 

 I96U). 



3. Tsunami Damage at Valdez, Alaska 



Most of the damage at Valdez waterfront was caused by the sub- 

 marine landslides, while the principal cause of damage away from the 

 waterfront was ground breakage. Approximately i+0 percent of the homes 

 and most of the larger commercial buildings were seriously damaged by 

 ground heaving and fissures extending under or near them. 



The slides caused both docks with their warehouses and canneries 

 to disappear; also, the breakwater protecting the small-boat harbor 

 disappeared. Figure I80 is a panoramic view of the small-boat harbor 

 just a day or two before the calamity. Figure I81 in contrast is an 

 aerial view of the waterfront the day after the earthquake. 



The whole town subsided owing to the compaction of the deltaic 

 materials during the tremors. The subsidence, greatest at the waterfront, 

 gradually decreased away from the shore. Figures l62 and 179 may be 

 compared for post- and prequake contours in the waterfront area. Water 

 Street subsided as much as 9 feet near Alaska Avenue. This drop has a 

 bearing on the wave damage in the waterfront area and is symptomatic 

 of the disappearance of the docks. In addition to the subsidence, the 

 waterfront area moved laterally (Figure I6). The concrete bulkhead at 

 the head of the small-boat harbor apparently moved 25 feet seaward 

 (Coulter and Migliaccio, 1966). 



The initial waves caused damage to the whole waterfront and the 

 downtown area as far as the runup line shown in Figure 179- A wave, 

 presumably the one that came in about 2 1/2 minutes after the earthquake 

 started, damaged almost all the boats and boat floats in the small-boat 

 harbor. Many of the boats were beached temporarily, and were washed 

 into the bay by the higher waves later in the evening. 



This wave also destroyed three of four buildings at the head of the 

 small-boat harbor and another building along Alaska Avenue (see Figures 

 166 and 182). The buildings, like the majority of buildings in Valdez, 

 were of light wooden frame construction. Particulars of a few buildings 

 damaged or destroyed are given in Table IX. Their location is identified 

 by niamber in Figure 179- 



Some heavy trucks from the docks were also washed inland (see Figures 

 179 and I8U ) . The roof of the cannery from the inner end of the north 

 dock may be seen partly sunk in mud flats northeastward of the North Arm 

 in Figures 166, 179, I8I, I83, and l8it. 



Text resumes on page 292 

 284 



