This article suddenly became more relevant now that Mom's researching the threat of a tsunami hitting the east coast, including Florida. We live approximately twenty-five miles inland; Florida is relatively flat. If the wave is a few hundred feet high, what is there to stop it?
Jeanette Isabelle
What is there to stop it? Texas.
I think J.I. is referring to the possibility of a tsunami from the Atlantic side of Florida. While region around the Atlantic is generally much less prone to major earthquakes and tsunamis than the Pacific "Ring of Fire", they do happen there. Just much less frequently. The two most often cited are the
1755 Lisbon earthquake and tsunami (on the other side of the pond), and the
1929 Magnitude 7.2 "Grand Banks" earthquake and tsunami.
Approximately 2 1/2 hours after the earthquake the tsunami struck the southern end of the Burin Peninsula in Newfoundland as three main pulses, causing local sea levels to rise between 2 and 7 metres. At the heads of several of the long narrow bays on the Burin Peninsula the momentum of the tsunami carried water as high as 13 metres. This giant sea wave claimed a total of 28 lives - 27 drowned on the Burin peninsula and a young girl never recovered from her injuries and died in 1933.
However, I suspect that being 25 miles inland, J.I. probably doesn't need to worry too much about tsunamis. Like any wave, tsunamis tend to dissipate and lose energy as they move over land. My guess would be that it would run out of gas before it reached her.
Previous Topic
Index
