The Raging Sea: The Powerful Account of the Worst Tsunami in U.S. Histor: Powerful Account of the Worst Tsunami in U.S. History

by Dennis M. Powers

Book Overview

On Good Friday, 1964, the residents of Crescent City in Northern California were preparing for the Easter weekend. Little did they know, but the worst earthquake in U.S. history was ripping Alaska... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806526823
• ISBN13: 9780806526829
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Citadel Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A night that changed a city forever

On Good Friday of 1964, when I was 11 years old, Alaska experienced an earthquake that sent whole neighborhoods sliding toward the ocean. I remember seeing those pictures in Life magazine, very well indeed; but I have only the fuzziest recollection that something also happened on that date in Crescent City, California. That "something" was the worst tsunami in history to strike a U.S. city. The series of waves, four major ones (although the sea went on with its back-and-forth surging for hours after the last major wave struck), was set in motion off Alaska. The warning that a tsunami might strike the West Coast of the "lower 48" failed to reach most of Crescent City's residents, and those who did hear it remembered other warnings when little or nothing happened afterward. Especially, some of them remembered a 1957 evacuation of their city that turned out to have been a needless precaution. So when the first wave arrived at midnight, Crescent City's people were doing what they always did on a Friday night. Partying in bars, watching television at home, or sleeping. Farther up the coast, two off duty Air Force men were fishing from a sand bar at a river's mouth. A family with four small children lay sleeping in a driftwood shelter on a beach, where the state park ranger tried unsuccessfully to find and evacuate them when the warning reached him. The first two waves did plenty of damage at Crescent City. After both had receded, even the authorities thought the disaster was over; so they allowed business owners and residents back into the waterfront area the waves had devastated, to start cleaning up and to protect property from looters. That's how Gary Clawson and his fiancee happened to be at the Long Branch Bar with Gary's parents, and with friends who were also his parents' employees, when the third and fourth waves arrived. By dawn, all but two of those people would die - and it would happen far away from the Long Branch, after a moment when safety appeared to lie within everyone's grasp. Gary Clawson's is just one of the stories author Powers recounts in this powerful book, which represents years of research into an event that changed a city forever. Like the law professor he is, Powers places everything in context; the reader comes away understanding not only what happened, but why it had the effects (both immediate and far reaching) that it did. Except for occasional awkwardness in word choice and sentence structure, an excellent piece of work that combines human interest with growing relevance in a world where the next "big one" is not a matter of if it will happen, but when.

The Unexpected Killer

In 1964 the town of Crescent City on the northern California coast was hit by a major tsunami created by an earthquake in Alaska. Scores of homes and businesses in the downtown area were destroyed, and 11 people died. Four children died on the Oregon coast at Beverly Beach State Park, as a result of the same tsunami. Dennis M. Powers' recent book, The Raging Sea: The Powerful Account of the Worst Tsunami in U.S. History, is a remarkable full-length, in-depth account of this disaster and its effects on the town and the lives of its residents. Powers spent 15 years researching and writing The Raging Sea. The result is a book with substantial and clear information on the dynamics of tsunamis and the technology of tsunami warning systems. But the gripping and tragic personal stories of this particular disaster are the real focus of the book. Powers follows dozens of people who were in Crescent City on the night the tsunami struck: those who escaped to higher ground immediately, who were caught by surprise and narrowly escaped the raging waters, and who fought for their lives but ultimately perished. The most compelling parts of the book revolve around Gary Clawson, his family and friends, and their struggle to survive. Powers makes time stand still as they battle the elements. The suspense kept me turning page after page way into the night to find out who would live and who would die. The attention to detail made me feel as if I knew these people, and I were with them in the midst of the tsunami, surrounded by the damage, death, and destruction. Powers goes on to describe the aftermath: the shattered lives, the devastation, the reconstruction of the town. He ends by discussing what the future may hold for those living in tsunami-prone areas. As haunting as the story he has just finished telling are the last lines of the book: "A `big one' will happen again, and it unfortunately will be worse than Crescent City's experience then. The only question is when - and who will suffer this time."

heroic and heartbreaking narrative

Dennis Powers' account of the 1964 tsunami's destruction of Crescent City, CA is a mostly straightforward chronicle of events and narratives. The author focuses on the surprise element of this disaster, both in its arrival and in the scope of the devastation. He touches on many heroic and heartbreaking stories of the residents who experienced it. The transformation of the nature of Crescent City and its inhabitants, however, emerges as the central theme of this work. Some of the problems unique to this disaster remind me of similar occurrences, thus making this material more applicable or relatable. Those include problems with false alarms, as well as the problem of residents reentering potentially hazardous areas. These occurrences can be compared and contrasted with those of the World Trade Centers on 9-11 and the collapse of the levees in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. This is a very readable narrative, full of engrossing stories of the death and destruction wrought by the tsunami. Powers' description of the events of Good Friday, 1964 is compelling viewed as history, human interest, or heroic drama. With interest in tsunamis and other calamities high, this book is a relevant addition to the literature of the genre.

Horrific situation--Heroic response

I will never visit the sea again without remembering this book. Dennis Powers is a compelling story-teller. This is a riveting drama of the ultimate disaster, and of the ordinary folks in a small town who performed extraordinary feats of heroism. This one makes stories about shark attacks pale in comparison.

Another Very Positive Review

I found the following very positive review by the widely respected publication, Publishers Weekly, about The Raging Sea to be helpful--and not misleading as one review does way below. Publishers Weekly states: "It's (The Raging Sea) a gripping narrative: lawyer and amateur tsunami scholar Powers describes how, in 1964, four successive waves spawned by an Alaskan earthquake struck Crescent City, Calif., a lumber and fishing town near the Oregon border, flooding the low-lying areas and killing 11 people (four children also drowned on the beach to the north). Broadcast warnings came too late to be useful, but earlier, less destructive waves raised an alarm that prompted many people to head for high ground before the later, more damaging onslaughts. Powers interviewed survivors whose stories read like good action fiction, such as septuagenarian Mable Martin's memories of surviving the night trapped in her ruined house. Less fortunate was Air Force Sgt. Don McClure, who saved a friend at the cost of his own life, or Gary Clawson, who saw his fiancée and half his family drown when raging waters capsized a boat in which they were trying to escape blazing oil tanks. Powers points out the town never quite recovered from the destruction wrought by the tsunami, although this was in part due to the decline of the fishing and logging industries. This is a very readable narrative, and interest in tsunamis is no doubt at an all-time high."