Five years ago, a quake off the coast of northern California spawned a tsunami advisory that left Half Moon Bay officials flat-footed. Then-City Manager Debra Ryan found out about the advisory while in a meeting and eventually conceded she didn’t even have the fire chief’s cell phone number. A since retired police commander said he was waiting to see if killer waves struck San Francisco before bothering to warn anyone here. Later he said he thought he should have evacuated some people.
There was a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking – including from this newspaper. Suffice to say no one was ready for waves that we now know are possible and potentially deadly.
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On Saturday, San Mateo County Sheriff’s deputies and Half Moon Bay police patrolled the coast. They closed beaches and did their level best to keep the few who just had to see what was going on from getting too close for their own good.
Special kudos are due the San Mateo County Harbor Patrol, which closed the harbor pier because of the risk that a large wave could dislodge the pilings. They positioned boats and crews so that they would be able to respond quickly if something unexpected happened.
Tsunami remains an unlikely occurrence here. Recent advisories aside, the large, deadly waves are rare. Before a warning in 2005 it had been two decades since one was issued that included the Coastside. But they only safeguard is effective planning. Saturday it was clear that years of hard work by people like Jim Asche at the San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services are paying off.
-- Clay Lambert
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