Three-foot tsunami his Hawaii after big quake in Canada

[phantom power]

A major magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit 25 miles (40 km) south of Sandspit, British Columbia last night at 8:04 pm PDT. The quake generated a tsunami that raced across the Pacific Ocean and struck Hawaii six hours later. The tsunami reached a height of 2.5 feet in Kahului, Maui, 1.2' at Hilo, and 0.5' in Honolulu. The earthquake was Canada's third largest since 1900. The last stronger quake was a magnitude 7.9 that hit in 1958. The other stronger quake was a magnitude 8.1 that hit in 1949, with an epicenter very close to last night's trembler.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2278

[matt819]

1. I don't want to minimize what tsunamis can do. . .

but isn't a three foot tsunami simply a wave?

[phantom power]

2. it's different...

think of a wave that's 3 feet high, but hundreds of meters, or kilometers, long. So, it's not necessarily very high, but it just keeps coming, and coming... More like a flood, really.