November 23, 1668 Tsunami: Azores, Portugal
A tsunami of unknown cause began at Azores, Portugal on November 23, 1668.
Where the waves reached
The source of the tsunami. No runup with a place is recorded for it.
- Under 1 m
- 1 to 3 m
- 3 to 10 m
- 10 to 30 m
- 30 m and more
- Height not recorded
The tsunami
- Date
- November 23, 1668
- Source
- Azores, Portugal
- Cause
- Unknown
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
- Source location
- 38.500° N, 28.100° W
The toll
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
- Houses destroyed
- Few (about 1 to 50)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
1668 November 23. Azores. The sea invaded the town of Calheta (38'36'N., 28'01'W.) Ilha de Sao Jorge, causing havoc. A number of houses were destroyed (reference #41)
1668 November 23. Seismic source tsunami (?). This event, which occurred on 23 November l668, was unexpected and described as " ... unusual rushing of the sea inland that demolished houses and a large section of the village's seawall''. The analysis of local topography suggests a run-up height circa 7 m. (reference #5046)
1668 November 23. Andrade et al. (2006) and Borges et al. (2008) estimate a run-up of c. 7 m and consider a local earthquake as a probable tsunamigenic source. As in previous events, the reports about the 1668 flood clearly mention the flood of Calheta; nevertheless, there are no records that support the occurrence of a local earthquake with a high magnitude that might have affected S. Jorge Island on this date. Therefore, the mentioned flood is probably related to a violent storm. (reference #13057)
More
Every tsunami in 1668The 1600sTsunamis of PortugalThis day in weather historyAlerts in force
Sources
Tsunami events and runups from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI tsunami event 302.