April 23, 1888 Tsunami: Mid-Norway

Reference #12093:

The largest of the two slides occurred on April 23 1888. From the testimony of the witnesses (Skaven-Haug, 1955) it has been established that the event, started with the appearance of a 5 to 7 m high flood wave formed in the fjord about halfway between the island of Munkholmen and Ilsvika.

The wave propagated toward, the shore line and first struck land at Ilsvika. Some minutes later it reached the jetty confining the area reclaimed several years earlier for the railway station at Brattora

At the instant the wave reached Brattora or perhaps when it receded, the jetty and the fill behind it slid out with three railway tracks over a length of 170 m. One man lost his life.

Reference #11164:

1888 April 23. Mid-Norway. Improbable tsunami. The 5-7 m high tsunami generated by the submarine slide triggered itself another subaerial landslide. Damage to on land structures. One perished in slide (Bjerrum, 1971).

Reference #13255:

On April 23rd, 1888, a big slide occurred in the harbour of Trondheim. The waves originated some distance out in the fjord and travelled to the shore where major damage occurred. An eye witness said that a large flood wave, 6 to 8 yards high started out in the fjord and at the moment when it reached the shore, or possibly at the moment the flood wave receded, the railway embankment slid out (Skaven-Haug, 1955, p. 136). It is believed that the slide was of the "flowslide" type and occurred underwater in unconsolidated fine sand (cp. Andresen and Bjerrum, 1967).