Officials on the West Coast of the United States and Central and South America are on high alert amidst earthquake-borne tsunamis around the Pacific.
The National Weather Service office for the San Francisco Bay Area said on X that a Tsunami Advisory would remain in effect for the time being due to continued wave fluctuations. But authorities in Central and South America are still on high alert.
"We are continuing to see fluctuations greater than a foot along our coast,"
NWS Bay Area wrote on X. "Therefore, the Tsunami Advisory remains in effect until further notice."
But according to an
NWS Bulletin early Wednesday morning, the Tsunami Advisory had been lifted for coastal areas between the California-Mexico border and Rincon Point, a surfing hotspot between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. The advisory was
lifted for the region between Rincon Point and the Humboldt/Del Norte county line in California. The advisory remains from the Humboldt/Del Norte line to the Oregon border, but has been lifted from Oregon all the way to Alaska.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary
Kristi Noem announced that evacuation orders had been lifted for Hawaii.
"We're in really good shape right now," Noem said at an
impromptu press conference in Chile, where she is meeting officials. "We've downgraded the tsunami threat that was established for Hawaii, and some of the regions impacting Alaska as well, but we still have an alert out for the West Coast."
But Noem said she anticipated "minimal impact" and said the threat of a major tsunami had "passed completely."
But warnings have been raised along the Pacific coasts of several countries in Central and South America. In Costa Rica, the National Commission for Risk Prevention and Emergency Response (
CNE) Emergency Operations Center issued a Yellow Alert for the Pacific Coastal regions. A release from CNE stated that strong currents were expected from Wednesday morning until the afternoon. The release also warned that estuaries and rivers could flood. Residents and visitors were instructed to stay away from water and coastal areas. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted waves of 1-3 meters in the area.
In Ecuador, the Oceanographic and Antarctic Institute of the Navy (
INOCAR) issued a notice of the oncoming tsunami. Waves were expected to hit the coast between 9:48 a.m. and 3:48 p.m. local time Wednesday. The
Ecuadorian Government issued a tsunami advisory for the Insular Region, which includes the Galapagos Islands, and a state of observation for the continental coast. NOAA reported that waves of greater than 3 meters would hit the coast.
As of Wednesday afternoon,
INOCAR reported on X that waves of up to 1.3 meters had been reported at the Galapagos Islands, about 600 miles west of Ecuador.
NOAA maintains threat levels for the entire Pacific Coast of Central and South America. Waves of 1-3 meters high are anticipated in Chile and Peru; waves of 0.3-1 meter are expected in Colombia, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico.
Meanwhile in Russia, the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano in the Kamchatka peninsula erupted Wednesday. Russian state-owned news wire
Sputnik posted photos of the eruption to X, showing a plume of ash and a spout of lava. Russian researchers also confirmed that lava flows were reported along the slope, state-owned news agency
TASS reported.
