May 22, 1919 Tsunami: Stromboli Island, Italy

1919, May 22, 17h45m[?]. Tyrrhenian Sea, Lipari Islands. Tsunami intensity 4, reliability 4. After a period of extraordinary activity of the volcano of Stromboli which started in Feb, its powerful explosion occurred with a noise of unprecedented intensity and with the discharge of enormous puffs of black smoke that enveloped the entire island for a short time. Anyone trying to move was knocked down. The explosion was accompanied by water being blown up from the sea and flooding the coast, everything around was overturned, and all the ships were carried approximately 300m up to vineyards adjacent to the coast. The tsunami waves were generated (evidently, owing to a sudden increase of the atmospheric pressure). "The displacement of water, like during a weak tsunami, was observed on the Island of Ustica. First, a whirlpool appeared in the sea in the Piccolo Lagoon of the Island of Capri, i.e. in the part of the island facing the Island of Stromboli, and reefs usually covered with water were uncovered for 1 m, and then, 6-7 s later, powerful waves gushed over the normal water line. Oscillations of the sea level of a very low amplitude (0.5 cm) with a period of about 11 min were recorded by the tide gauge stalled at the lighthouse [Faro] near Messina after 18h and lasted 90 min; they resumed half an hour later and lasted 30 min more. The tide gauge in Messina recorded usual sea waves with a period of 7-8 min, but of a low amplitude - about 1 cm, 2 cm maximum - during the eruption. Oscillations of a much higher amplitude started approximately at 18h, and the amplitude reached 7.5 cm 20min later; after that, the waves caused by the eruption started to subside, but continued about 3 hours more. No signs of tsunami in the records of the tide gauges in the towns of Palermo, Catania, Cagliari (Sardinia Is), Naples, on the Island of Ischia, in the town of Civitavecchia were revealed. (reference #2130)

1919, May 22, 17:45 UTC. 38o 48'N, 15o12'E. Tsunami intensity 3, reliability 4. From February 1919 an eruption of the Stromboli volcano occurred, that had its maximum on May 22 with a violent explosion. Most of the houses at Stromboli village destroyed and many others suffered severe damage. Also at Ginostra some houses collapsed. Three victims and many injured people.

More or less contemporary to the explosion, a tsunami occurred along the coast of Stromboli. An eye-witness reports a sea retreat of about 200 m at Punta Labronzo, contemporary to the eruption; shortly after the explosion the sea water flooded the beach all around for about two minutes, carrying all the ships by more than 300 m in the neighbouring fields (Platania, ref #10523; Oddone, ref#10524).

Maramai (ref #10525) quotes some newspaper accounts: "La Nazione" reports that a few minutes after the beginning of the eruption a huge water wave was produced and the tsunami lasted for more than ten minutes. The "Osservatore Romano" describes some damage to many fishing boats that were thrown on the beach at a distance larger than 150 m.

At Ustica an anomalous sea movement was observed, like a light tsunami (ref #10523).

In Capri at Marina Piccola some sailors noted a sea retreat leaving dried some rocks that were more than 1 m under the sea level. After a few seconds, some big waves flooded the beach (ref #10523)

1919 05 22, Aeolian Islands, Italy: During an eruption of Stromboii, a tsunami occurred carrying all the boats by more than 300 m in the neighbouring fields. The event looks like similar to the tsunami caused by a volcanogenic landslide on 30.12.2002. (reference #10357)