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State emergency staff warn coastal residents: know evacuation routes and sign up for alerts
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Summary
Alyssa of the Washington Emergency Management Division described local and distant tsunami threats from Cascadia and Alaska, advised how to get official tsunami alerts and siren information, and urged practicing walk-time evacuation routes and preparing go-bags.
Alyssa, staff member at the Washington Emergency Management Division, led the webinar’s tsunami and preparedness segment, laying out the difference between local tsunamis (arriving in under three hours) and distant tsunamis. She said Washington has "3,000 miles of beautiful shoreline" and noted large daily populations in tsunami hazard zones from ports, ferries and coastal businesses.
Alyssa explained natural warning signs — strong or prolonged ground shaking at the coast, a sudden rise or fall of the ocean, or abnormal water behavior or roaring sounds — and emphasized that, for many local tsunamis, ground shaking will be residents’ first and possibly only warning. She explained distant events (for example, Alaska or Japan) require official alerts from the National Tsunami Warning Center or the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
On official notifications and sirens, Alyssa said the state uses multiple channels: wireless emergency alerts, local alert sign-ups, NOAA weather radios, and more than "120 tsunami sirens" along the inner and outer coast (audio range about a mile; intended mainly for people on the beach or with no other connection). She recommended the NVS tsunami evacuation app for Washington and Oregon and the state's mil.wa.gov/alerts page for enrollment and instructions on enabling phone alerts.
Alyssa highlighted walk‑time evacuation maps (which estimate time to reach the nearest high ground) and noted some outer‑coast locations can show 75 minutes of walk time while estimated wave arrival can be 15 minutes. Where walking times are longer than wave arrival, she said vertical evacuation structures are needed: Washington currently has two such structures and, she said, "we need anywhere between 58 and 80 more." She urged people to plan to walk when evacuating and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles.
For household preparedness she recommended a two‑week household supplies baseline, a smaller grab‑and‑go kit for evacuation, communication and reunification plans, and participation in the Great Washington ShakeOut drill (third Thursday in October at 10:17 a.m.). She closed by directing attendees to tsunami maps, the Washington Geological Survey and the Washington Emergency Management Division public education contact (public.education@mil.wa.gov) for follow-up questions.
