March 4, 1930 Tsunami: Madeira Island, Portugal
A tsunami caused by a landslide began at Madeira Island, Portugal on March 4, 1930 at 18:03 UTC. The water rose as high as 5 meters. Its effects were recorded at 2 places. It killed 19 people.
Where the waves reached
The source (white) and every runup with a place, colored by the water height recorded there. A ring is a runup NCEI marks doubtful.
- 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
- March 4, 1930, 18:03 UTC
- Source
- Madeira Island, Portugal
- Cause
- Landslide
- Maximum water height
- 5 m (16.4 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 2
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 32.617° N, 16.967° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 19
- Missing
- 2
- Injuries
- 6
- Damage
- Limited (under about $1 million)
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.
1930 Mar 04, 18:03:00, 32.65 N 16.97 W. Runup >5 m. An enormous wave, caused by a massive rock fall close to Girao Cape in Madeira, entered the Vigario Beach 200–300m in land (Freitas, 1989). The wave caused about 20 casualties, most of them women surrounded by their children, who were washing their laundry in the Vigario stream close to the sea. During the water reflux it was possible to see women and children carried out by the water and other debris (Rosa and Fernandes, 1930). (reference #4649)
1930 Mar 04, 18:03:00 UTC, 32.617 N 16.967 W (reference #11164)
The landslide occurred on March 4th, 1930, at 9:20 am, local time. The mass split as a whole from the cliff face of Pico do Ran-cho, which is ∼1.4 km to the ESE of Cabo Girão proper and is more than 350 m in height; it quickly disintegrated as it fell and the failure-involved material spread southwards […] According to eyewitnesses, “following the collapse, an enor-mous wave of several meters, looking like a cloud, was formed and moved fast towards the village” of Câmara de Lobos (Vigário beach and village Bay). At the same time, a strong sea swirling was observed in an opposing direction of the wave propagation p[…] The Cabo Girao tsunami of 1930 resulted in 19 fatalities, 2 persons were reported missing and 6 were injured (Rodrigues, 2005). According to eyewitnesses, there was not a higher number of victims and loss of boats due to the ebbing tide and the rough sea that conditioned the regular fishermen activities the day of the event (DN16678). (reference #13778)
Note: lat/long used based on image in reference #4649
Every runup
Nearest the source first. Heights are above sea level at the time; a tide gauge reads half the wave’s full height.
| Where | Country | Km from source | Water height, m | Inland, m | Measured by | First wave, UTC | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vigario Beach, Madeira Island | Portugal | 4 | 300 | Eyewitness observation of water height | |||
| Camara DE Lobos Bay | Portugal | 4 | Eyewitness observation of water height |
More
Every tsunami in 1930The 1900sTsunamis 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 5786.