Pacifica residents recall fleeing to higher ground during tsunami warning
Frightening moments for thousands of people in Pacifica as they raced to higher ground on Thursday, fleeing the tsunami zone following a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck off the Northern California coast.
"I grabbed the dog, I grabbed my passport. That's about all I could get my hands on and then got out. And as I was driving out, the police and fire trucks where blaring down the street with their sirens," 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 roads. Cars were backed up for miles on Highway 1, as people were trying to get out of town.
"There was helicopters flying overhead. The fire department was honking their horns, putting up barriers. There was no travel or traffic allowed down these streets while this is going on, so there was, it was a very real sense of urgency," said Stephan of Pacifica.
Police and fire officials could be seen clearing areas closest to the beach.
Just over an hour after the tsunami warning went out, it was canceled. Mayor Sue Vaterlaus says that was music to her ears.
"People have been knocked into garages just from king tides or regular sneaker waves. So with a tsunami, it could have been really bad," Vaterlaus told CBS News Bay Area.
Vaterlaus said the city and county will now be evaluating the evacuation response. She said she knows about the traffic issues getting out and wants to work to improve that.
"We could use additional freeway services and something to help our freeway because obviously if it was backed up and something happened people could have been injured, hurt, anything could have happened," the mayor said.
The mayor also says the city's tsunami warning sirens did not go off, causing confusing for some residents who got alerts on their phones but still weren't sure if they should evacuate.
According to Vaterlaus, the county's department of emergency management is charge of those sirens.
"It's something that I'm sure they're going to debrief about after all of this is all settled down and decide whether or not those alarms should go off with the warning or not," she said.
