No tsunami warning for Homer
Published 10:30 pm Friday, July 14, 2023
A tsunami warning issued about 10:50 p.m. Saturday night does not affect Homer or the Kachemak Bay area. Lower Kenai Peninsula residents received the alert through through cell phones and later through the tsunami warning towers on the Homer Spit and low-lying areas of Homer.
“If you are in Homer you DO NOT need to evacuate,” Homer Police said in its Facebook page.
At 11:35 p.m., the Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management through its KPB alerts also canceled the warning for the lower peninsula.
“Communities of Katchemak Bay and upper Cook Inlet are NOT in danger,” the alert said. “An ALL CLEAR has been issued for all communities in Homer and coastal communities of Katchemak Bay.”
According to the National Tsunami Warning Center, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake near Sand Point at 10:48 p.m. triggered the warning from Unimak Pass to the Kennedy Entrance about 40 miles southwest of Homer.
The large earthquake hit at a depth of about 6 miles an about 65 miles south of Sand Point, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Photos taken from Skyline Drive nonetheless showed vehicles evacuating.
This is a developing story.
