Ventura Harbor Patrol boat capsizes; other damage caused by tsunami near Tonga

The effects of a tsunami near Tonga Saturday caused at least 22 areas of damage at Ventura Harbor and capsized a boat, harbor officials said.

Ventura Harbormaster John Higgins said Sunday that tidal surges a day earlier reached 10 knots and created a 6-foot differential between high and low tide, extremes that contributed to the destruction.

Much of the harbor's damage happened Saturday in the Ventura Keys, a back section of the harbor made of three channels or fingers with private docks linked to most homes. A number of docks and attached ramps broke loose, Higgins said.

"So the conditions continued throughout the day and into the evening and to much a lesser degree this morning," said Higgins who with other Ventura Port District and city officials evaluated the harbor Sunday.

An underwater volcano 40 miles off from the capital of Tonga erupted Friday sending its energy in the form of waves across the Pacific. By Saturday morning, Hawaii and the West Coast had been placed under a tsunami advisory.

Around 11 a.m. Saturday, a patrol boat tied to a dock outside the harbor patrol headquarters got swept by the current, swamped by water and capsized. It's not clear yet if the boat can be salvaged but it was eventually hauled out and taken to the boat yard, Higgins said.

He said it got "way crazier" later in the day.

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Shortly after dark, a 90-foot dock with two boats attached came loose from its pilings in the Ventura Keys, Higgins said. The dock and two vessels – a 70-foot yacht and a 20-foot electric boat called a duffy – broke away from its pilings and struck a second 30-foot dock with another boat.

"We were fortunately able to rescue all those and get them all secured and prevent them from sinking and going out in the ocean," the harbormaster said.

To see two boats and a dock adrift with no one aboard was jarring, he said.

"It was like, 'Oh, my gosh,'" Higgins said.

In the west marina of the main harbor, the H dock also suffered damage and four boats slipped there were relocated, according to Higgins.

He likened Saturday's tidal surges to ones created by the Chilean tsunami in 2010, which also caused considerable damage to the harbor.

As for the capsized patrol boat, Higgins said officers left the boat briefly to go into headquarters.

"If anything, we did it totally right," he said. "They tied super tight so it wouldn't break free."

The harbormaster said the lack of slack in the rope actually ended up worsening the situation. They're learning from each tsunami – Chile, Japan, Peru and now Tonga.

One thing's for sure, the officers won't tie up in the same spot if a similar tsunami happens again, Higgins said.

By Sunday, some boaters and paddlers were back out on the water in Ventura Harbor without issue but harbor officials did close its boat launch and ramp. Higgins was not sure if it would be reopened Monday.

In Oxnard, Sgt. Dan Smock of Channel Islands Harbor Patrol said Sunday the harbor had no issues.

"In Channel Islands (Harbor), we saw about a 4-foot surge coming in and out, but no reported damage," he said.

Key design differences tend to spare the Oxnard harbor from damage, he said. An outside detached break wall dampens the effect of swells, two beaches – Kiddie and Hobie – by their location also absorb waves and a dog-leg design from open ocean into the greater harbor dissipates wave energy among other things, Smock noted.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura Harbor Patrol boat capsizes; other damage caused by tsunami