California surfers waited in water for tsunami
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Mark Fontes, of Costa Mesa, Calif., holds his board while watching waves on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, Calif., Friday. An 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan sparking tsunami warnings as far away as the United States' west coast.
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With a tsunami warning in effect for Northern California, two men watch the waves at San Francisco's Ocean Beach on Friday. The tsunami warnings came after a 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan.
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. >> Some California surfers rode high water from a tsunami caused by the Japanese earthquake, while other beaches were closed.
In Santa Cruz, it was a typical good day for surfing before the water pulled out of Monterey Bay toward the Pacific Ocean when the tsunami hit.
Around 8:10 a.m., within seconds, the water dropped by about 9 feet as the harbor turned into a river as water was sucked out to sea.
Surfers who had been paddling on their boards were able to walk with them on the wet sand. Others stayed in water, despite warnings from lifeguards to come in.
A couple of boats broke loose and part of a dock was also pulled away during one of several surges, each of which took about 10 minutes.
