Particulars of tsunami damage for Southern California are peculiarly 

 scarce, considering the sizable losses listed in Table E-5 (Appendix E) . 

 From $175,000 to $275,000 worth of damage occurred in Los Angeles Harbor, 

 and $100,000 in Long Beach Harbor, but the writers have been unable to 

 secure any documentary details on these losses. From personal communi- 

 cation with Mr. William Herron of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

 Los Angeles District, it is understood that most of the damage was sus- 

 tained as a result of swift currents in the inner harbors and small-boat 

 harbors. Details, particularly as regards effects on large vessels, are 

 unfortunately lacking. 



Tsunami damage at Crescent City amounted to $7,Ull+,000 (Spaeth and 

 Berkman, I967), and is being re-evaluated at present time. Estimated 

 losses elsewhere along the California coast total between about $1 1/2 

 and $2 3/8 million (see Table E-5, Appendix E). 



5. Tsunami Damage at Crescent City, California 



The wave sequence at Crescent City has already been discussed 

 in Figure ^9 and Section III and some inferences were drawn in regard 

 to the character of the waves. We quote again from Magoon (1965): 



"Due to the relatively severe tsunami damage produced at 

 Crescent City in 196^+, an investigation was made of the coast 

 on both sides of Crescent City to determine the water levels 

 reached by the tsunami. Based on elevations determined at 

 locations positively identified as those caused by the tsunami 

 it is concluded that runup elevation reached by the third wave 

 of this tsunami was essentially constant at the shore for a 

 distance of almost 2 miles southwest of Crescent City. This 

 high water elevation along the shore reached 20 to 21 feet 

 above MLLW. The line of maximum tsunami inundation generally 

 followed the +20 MLLW contour where the ground elevations 

 increased to landward from the shore. This would include 

 most of downtown Crescent City and the pasture land in the 

 vicinity of HWM No. 5 (see Figure 209). 



"A definite departure from this characteristic runup 

 pattern was found where the ground elevation decreases to 

 seaward from the coast and either decreases or remains 

 essentially level landward from the coast. Under this 

 condition, water flowed over the narrow coastal dunes or 

 raised areas near State Highway 101 in a similar manner 

 as water flowing over a broad weir. Apparently the quan- 

 tity of water transported landward in the individual waves 

 was insufficient in some instances to fill the low area to 

 landward, thus reducing runup." 



The runup limits found by Magoon and shown in Figure 209 could be 

 consistent with the explanation for the high-wave effects offered in 

 Section Ill(6) and Figure 73. However, either the limited extent of 

 the survey or the nature of the coast fails to show whether the high 



328 



