December 2, 1951 Tsunami: Puerto Rico, US Territories

Reference#13840:

During the morning of December 2, 1951, the seas were calm along the northern Puerto Rican coast ; but shortly after noon a rapid agitation of the seas was noticeable, and by 3 p.m. local time mountainous waves lashed the coasts. The entire day was calm and sunny, and the mildness of the weather contrasted impressively with the wildness of the seas. Similar calm weather prevailed during the high seas in Barbados. In both islands, there was considerable damage to houses, roads and small fishing craft.

In both Puerto Rico and Barbados the onset of the heavy seas was very sudden, and so presumably the cause must have occurred near the time of onset. The times of origin of the tremors recorded at Martinique do not agree with the times of the heavy seas in these two islands. Further, the tremors recorded at Martinique were supposed to have originated east of the Lesser Antilles, whereas only the western Barbadian coast and northern Puerto Rican coast experienced stormy seas.

A study of synoptic weather maps of the NorthSouth Atlantic and Caribbean Sea for the above dates rules out the possibility of the rough seas being attributed to meteorological conditions. If storms of rapid development, perhaps even too rapid to have been recorded on synoptic charts, were the cause, then it is strange that the wild seas were such localized occurrences. A detailed check has shown that on and about the above dates no other West Indian island nor even the neighbouring mainlands recorded unusual seas.

There is no indication of submarine volcanic activity being the cause.

It would appear that it was neither earthquakes, meteorological storms nor submarine volcanoes which were responsible for these peculiarly localized phenomena along the coasts of the islands mentioned. The effect was purely local and a local cause must be sought.

[…] Recognizing such instability, but excluding the above-mentioned possible causes, there seems one explanation available, namely, submarine landslips.

The simultaneous occurrence of high seas on December 2-3, 1951, at Barbados and Puerto Rico must be considered as purely coincidental.

Reference #12345 lists as questionable tsunami with a landslide source. (accessed July 2024)