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Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Tsunami Warning Test Day Tomorrow

Posted By Kimberly Wear @kimberly_wear on Tue, Mar 28, 2023 at 3:00 PM

The Tsunami Warning Communications Test takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) between 11 a.m. and noon, an annual opportunity for local emergency officials to tryout local alert systems that would be activated in the case of a distance-source tsunami heading toward Humboldt's shores, like events in 1964 and 2011.

"The test will trigger the Emergency Alert System (EAS) across the three county area of Del Norte, Humboldt, and Mendocino counties resulting in alerts on radio and TV broadcasts, weather radio, and activation of tsunami sirens in some areas," the NWS said in a release. "The Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system for cellular phones will NOT be tested, but in a real emergency it would be activated for a Tsunami Warning. However, some county reverse calling systems are expected to be tested the hour before the test to alert people of the coming tsunami warning system test at 11 am."

Due to weather conditions, the Civil Air Patrol will not be flying during the testing.

During the 2021 event, nearly half of the sirens were silent after being "corroded to oblivion" by years of exposure to salt air and the North Coast's notoriously wet weather. (Find more information in the story "Icons of Preparedness," which looks at the costs vs. the benefits of replacing the sirens, as well as whether the devices are as effective as cellphone alerts and other warning systems.)

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