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Tsunami at Alberni and Port Alberni,
Vancouver Island,
1964
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Alberni/Port Alberni Tsunami
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Just before he got to the interesting part, my lifelong friend, whom I had met only 5 years ago, left me with an image which I could not get out of my mind. The image?… a church displaced from its moorings where humans, inspired by God, had placed it, and deposited in a neighbouring field where a Tsunami, inspired by an earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska had placed it.
The subject of our conversation was the Great Tsunami of 1964 in Alberni/Port Alberni. My Witness and I had been chatting about our mutual life journeys which had led us to our current destination as residents of Royal Pines. The conversation was interrupted by a couple of other Royal Piners and their dogs, Harry and Miguel. The unresolved mobile church issue left my sanity hanging precariously onto the roots of my thinning hair. The image of an orphan church abandoned by God and uprooted by Nature, remained for nearly a month, boggling my ancient mind and further cluttering my cluttered brain until images of floating houses carried away by flash floods on the Guadalupe River in Central Texas forced me back to engage my neighbour, to further expand on the events of March 27, 1964.
I met recently with the Witness of the Tsunami to continue the story of the events at the mouth of Deanne’s garage. We sat down on her swing and explored the events of Good Friday, March 27, 1964. Good Friday, I noted, was there some cosmic arm wrestling at play here between the supernatural and the forces of Nature?
Here are the some of the more interesting details of the Great Tsunami of 1964 in Port Alberni:
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The Cause
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–On March 27th 1964, the afternoon of Good Friday, the strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America hit Anchorage, Alaska.
–The 9.2 (!!) magnitude earthquake had a depth of 25 kilometers, lasted 4 minutes and 38 seconds and killed 131 people.
–Many houses, buildings and infrastructures were damaged or destroyed.
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The Consequences in Port Alberni
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–In Port Alberni 65 homes were washed away and 375 homes were damaged.
–The water level rose 21′ gradually and damaged infrastructure.
–There were no fatalities, (My Witness describes the water level as increasing at a pace gradual enough to escape the flood: filling up like a bathtub).
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Texas Flash Flood
Guadalupe
River
July 4, 2025
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Cause:
–Over 12 inches of rain overnight upstream on the Guadalupe River.
–The River rose 20′ in 45 minutes at Kerrville, Texas.
–Occurred in the dead of night, caught resident off guard.
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Consequences:
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–Upwards of 130 fatalities: probably many more yet to be discovered.
–Many buildings washed away, damaged or destroyed.
–Happened on July 4th: Do I detect here some cosmic arm wrestling between Uncle Sam and Mother Nature?
–The speed and power of the rushing water were irresistible (No bathtub here! More like a racing terrestrial tsunami bulldozing its way downward).
–The regrettable loss of life, especially those young lives who were just beginning to experience the plenitude of consciousness, as individuals and as parts of communities.
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Final comments about the Witness to the events of March 27, 1964 in Port Alberni. He and I share the distinction of having lived in the considerably smelly shadow of the Pulp and Paper manufacturing industry in British Columbia in Port Alberni and in Prince George. Our lungs and the lungs of those we love may never forgive us for the unpleasant but necessary interlude of our existence in P.G. under the smelly umbrella of prosperity. The ‘smell of gold’ was the way long term mayor, Harold Moffatt, characterized the odour of the valley of Pulp Mills at the confluence of the Nechako and Fraser Rivers.
Much respect to you also, my Witness, for your volunteer work and to others like you who are pushing back against invasive vegetation in our little Island Paradise. Thank you!
G.G. July, 2025
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Post Scriptum: Late Breaking News: 1) July 16, 2025: Earthquake in Alaska measuring 7.2 on the Richter Scale: No damage reported to coastal communities on Vancouver Island.
2) Earthquake on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, July 29, 2025 measuring 8.8 on the Richter Scale, followed by a Tsunami which seems to have produced little damage so far, except within the communities close to the epicenter of the earthquake.