tsunami Kohoutek

After the enormous earthquake off Kamchatka, there were properly tsunami warnings across the Pacific. The waves were expected to reach California in the post-midnight hours on Wednesday. But after reports from Hawaii showed smaller waves than expected, people breathed a little easier. And indeed, even in Crescent City - something of a tsunami focuser because of the shape of the bay - the waves were only four feet higher than normal. Which caused only minor and incidental flooding. A huge contrast from the deadly 21-foot waves that hit the city after the Anchorage quake in 1964.

But there's still a lot of sloshing around going around after the quake, and unwary people on the shoreline could be hit and drowned, so stay careful out there.