Frightening moments for thousands of people in Pacifica as they ran to higher ground Thursday, fleeing the tsunami area that followed a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California.
“I grabbed the dog, I grabbed my passport. That’s about all I could get and then I got out. And as I was driving out, the police and fire trucks were blaring their sirens down the street,” said Maddy Conanan. of Pacifica.
Students evacuated from schools closest to the ocean. Our helicopter was over Oceana High School as students lined up outside on the football field waiting to be bused inland.
The evacuation caused a nightmare on the roads. Cars were parked on Highway 1 for miles as people tried to get out of town.
“There were helicopters flying overhead. The fire brigade were honking their horns and setting up barriers. There was no travel or traffic allowed through these streets while this was going on, so there was that, it was a very real sense of urgency,” he said . Stephen from Pacifica.
Police and firefighters were able to clear the areas closest to the beach.
Just over an hour after the tsunami warning went out, it was cancelled. Mayor Sue Vaterlaus says that was music to her ears.
“People have been knocked into garages just by the king tides or just regular sneaker waves. So with a tsunami it could have been really bad,” Vaterlaus told CBS News Bay Area.
Vaterlaus said the city and province will now evaluate the evacuation response. She said she is aware of the traffic issues at the exit and wants to work to improve that.
“We could use extra highway services and something to help our highway because if it was backed up and something happened, people could have gotten hurt, injured and all kinds of things could have happened,” the mayor said.
The mayor also says the city’s tsunami warning sirens did not go off, causing confusion for some residents who received alerts on their phones but were still unsure whether to evacuate.
According to Vaterlaus, the county’s emergency management department is responsible for these sirens.
“It’s something that I’m sure they’ll do a debrief on after this is all sorted out and decide whether or not the alarm should go off with the warning or not,” she said.
