Hazard Detail

Tsunami/Seiche

Tsunami and seiche hazards mainly affect Oakland's shoreline and other low-lying water-adjacent areas. Most events have been minor, but a stronger event could create fast-moving flood and evacuation problems.

Low risk 5/10 priority tsunami-seiche
Personalization

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Current location
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Hazard pages use your saved address and ZIP first. This override only helps fine-tune guidance for neighborhood context like hills or shoreline.

Location Context

What this page is using

This hazard page is using your saved Oakland location: No location selected.

This page is still grounded in the JSON dataset, but this hazard does not yet have ZIP-specific scoring in the current risk CSV.

What This Means

Why it matters

If you spend time near the shoreline, the airport, port-connected areas, tidal flats, or other low-lying water edges, you should know your evacuation route and warning signals.

Realistic Impact

What could happen

A distant or regional tsunami could push water into low shoreline areas, close transportation routes, and force fast evacuations. Larger events could disrupt wastewater plants, rail, and airport operations.

For most Oakland residents this is a lower-probability hazard, but for shoreline users and workers it can become an urgent evacuation and infrastructure problem.

Action Steps

Interactive checklist

Tsunami/Seiche Preparedness: 0/5 complete

Low risk
Top Risks

Main dangers

  • Fast shoreline inundation and property damage in low-lying areas.
  • Difficult evacuation for people with mobility, health, or transportation barriers.
  • Disruption to airport, rail, wastewater, and port-linked infrastructure.
  • Large displacement from a bigger coastal event.
  • Low warning confidence for local events compared with more distant tsunamis.
Priority Reason

Why this is ranked here

The LHMP ranks tsunami/seiche low because most recorded impacts are minor, but the shoreline exposure is still meaningful. It remains a moderate app priority because a larger event could affect thousands of people, critical facilities, and evacuation routes.

Locations

Areas mentioned in the dataset

  • Beaches and low-lying coastal areas.
  • Tidal flats and river deltas.
  • Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport.
  • Rail lines connecting to the Port of Oakland.
  • Three wastewater treatment plants.
At-Risk Groups

Who may need extra planning

  • People with barriers to evacuation.
  • Adults over age 65.
  • Lower- and middle-income residents who may have fewer resources for relocation or protection.
  • People near beaches, low-lying coastal areas, tidal flats, and river deltas.
History

Historical examples

  • 1964 Alaska tsunami that produced 10 to 23 foot wave heights off the North Coast and about 4 feet in the San Francisco Bay area.
  • 2011 Japan tsunami that caused over $100 million in damage in Santa Cruz and two fatalities.
  • December 5, 2024 offshore Cape Mendocino event; Oakland activated its tsunami siren system, but no local damage was reported.