On Sunday morning, Sasha Calvey, camped with friends Billy White and Nick Heilgeist on Harbor Island in Holkham Bay, woke to a terrifying roar.
Glancing outside their tent, they saw a massive wave surging towards them, mere inches away.
The trio, along with their kayaks, had been navigating the Inside Passage from Washington for 78 days, with plans to reach Glacier Bay in the final two weeks of their expedition.
Their world turned upside down at 5:45 a.m. when the wave struck.
Calvey quickly alerted his friends as they scrambled out of the tent to grasp the magnitude of the situation; waves had overwhelmed their campsite, taking with it much of their gear.
Calvey’s kayak was found floating a quarter-mile offshore, while White’s kayak had lodged itself on a cliff and Heilgeist’s was found entangled in a tree.
“It was just pure chaos out of nowhere,” said Heilgeist.
Farther away, Christine Smith, the captain of the small cruise ship David B., experienced a peculiar phenomenon.
Anchored near Fords Terror, she observed the tide unusual movement—water rising when it should have been receding.
Having navigated these waters for nearly two decades, she recognized that something was seriously amiss.
She soon contacted a seismologist friend, who confirmed that seismometers across North America had detected unusual activity just minutes prior.
Michael West, the seismologist from the Alaska Earthquake Center, noted that a substantial landslide had occurred, causing an impressive amount of rock and debris to tumble down from the mountains.
“Honestly, I think of it as the side of a mountain collapsing,” West remarked.
Preliminary assessments indicated that the landslide involved tens or hundreds of millions of cubic meters of material.
West described it as a cube of rock equivalent to a couple of football fields on each side.
What happened next was catastrophic; the landslide generated a colossal tsunami that surged through the fjord.
According to West, the tsunami’s height estimates are still underway, but social media posts indicate it reached at least 100 feet tall in certain areas near the source.
Remarkably, the wave phenomenon continued to resonate for hours, akin to water sloshing in a bathtub.
Remarkably, this tsunami was detected as far as 75 miles north in Juneau where tide gauges recorded fluctuations.
As Smith guided the David B. up Tracy Arm the following day, she saw evidence of the destruction: downed trees and scoured shorelines.
Tour boats due to operate in the area faced disruption as they were forced to turn back due to debris.
Scientists and experts are still piecing together the entire sequence of events leading up to and following the landslide.
West highlighted that this event is rare and will be studied intently.
He made comparisons to a previous landslide and tsunami in Taan Fiord in 2015, indicating Sunday’s event was substantially larger than last year’s Kenai Fjords National Park landslide.
Interestingly, West pointed to a series of small tremors that preceded the larger slide as an intriguing piece of evidence, providing a precursor sequence not commonly observed in similar events.
Fortunately, the timing of the landslide played a critical role in minimizing casualties; happened early in the morning when most boats were absent from the fjord.
“It is hard to imagine that, in front of the landslide itself, anything would survive,” West expressed.
The staggering event presents scientists with an opportunity to learn more about the mechanics of massive landslides and their potential impacts.
West emphasized that while most incidents are tucked away in remote areas, they won’t always occur in remote locations.
Understanding these geological events better is crucial for preparedness in more populated regions like Whittier, Seward, or Hoonah.
For the kayakers, the experience served as a stark reminder of nature’s unpredictable forces.
Although they faced chaos and loss, they were eventually rescued by a charter yacht, Blackwood, that responded to their distress call via radio.
Through strong currents, they managed to get the trio onboard, providing the kayakers with blankets and showers as they traveled back through the fjord to witness the damage the tsunami had wrought.
Heilgeist recounted: “Sawyer Island only had one tree left on it.”
For White, reflecting on the surreal event, she acknowledged the group’s resilience and their gratitude for escaping without physical harm.
With support from the local community in Juneau offering housing and logistical assistance, the group is now focused on raising funds to replace their lost kayak and gear, reaffirming their love for Alaska’s wilderness despite the harrowing ordeal.
image source from：alaskapublic
