Washington state no longer under tsunami advisory

Update, 7/30/25 at 10:40 a.m. (via KUOW)

Washington state is no longer under a tsunami advisory, according to the state's Emergency Management Division.

Update, 7/29/25 at 8:47 p.m. (via KUOW)

A tsunami advisory remains in effect for Washington’s coast after an 8.8-magnitude earthquake Tuesday afternoon near Russia.

The National Weather Service advises people near the ocean to, “move off the beach and out of harbors and marinas.”

Waves from the tsunami are expected to reach between 1-1.5 feet tall when they reach Washington’s shores starting at 11:35 p.m., according to the state’s Emergency Management Division.

That means most residents on the water are unlikely to notice any difference tonight.

“It happens to coincide with pretty much the peak of the low tide,” said Ian Miller, coastal hazards specialist with Washington Sea Grant. “So that's great in terms of any possibility that a wave may over top the beach or cause any backshore flooding."

Original story:

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s meteorological agency issued a tsunami alert for Japan’s Pacific coast, upgrading an earlier advisory stemming from the powerful, magnitude 8.0 quake that hit on Wednesday morning near Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.

The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, has also issued a tsunami advisory for Washington, California, and Oregon and a tsunami warning for Alaska and Hawaii.

Japanese officials issued an advisory for a tsunami of up to 3 meter (yards) across the Pacific coast of Japan, possibly starting to arrive along the northern Japanese coasts in less than half an hour after the alert.

The U.S. National Weather Service’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a tsunami from the quake had been generated that could cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands.

“Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property,” the warning stated. The first waves were expected around 7 p.m. local time.

Japan’s meteorological agency said the quake occurred at 8:25 a.m. (2325 GMT Tuesday) and registered a preliminary magnitude of 8.0. The quake was about 250 kilometers (160 miles) away from Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost of the country’s four big islands, and was felt only slightly, according to Japan’s NHK television.

The U.S. Geological Survey said it hit at a depth of 19.3 kilometers (12 miles). The USGC said shortly after initial reports that the quake’s strength was 8.7 magnitude.

Russia’s Tass news agency reported from the biggest city nearby, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, that many people ran out into the street without shoes or outerwear. Cabinets toppled inside homes, mirrors were broken, cars swayed in the street and balconies on buildings shook noticeably.

Tass also reported power outages and mobile phone service failures in the capital of the Kamchatka region.

The Japanese government said it set up a taskforce for information gathering and response in case of any emergency. A University of Tokyo seismologist Shinichi Sakai told NHK that a distant earthquake could cause a tsunami that affects Japan if its epicenter is shallow.

Japan, part of the area known as the Pacific ring of fire, is one of the world’s most quake-prone country.

Earlier in July, five powerful quakes — the largest with a magnitude of 7.4 — struck in the sea near Kamchatka. The largest quake was at a depth of 20 kilometers and was 144 kilometers (89 miles) east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000.

On Nov. 4, 1952, a magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka caused damage but no reported deaths despite setting off 9.1-meter (30-foot) waves in Hawaii.