March 18, 1952 Tsunami: Mississippi River, United States
A tsunami of unknown cause began at Mississippi River, United States on March 18, 1952.
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
- March 18, 1952
- Source
- Mississippi River, United States
- Cause
- Unknown
- Runups recorded
- 0
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Very doubtful tsunami
The toll
- 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.
Reference #13762 states “On March 18, 1952 an apparent tsunami damaged the jetty at Southwest Pass, displacing 180 concrete blocks (Chief of Engineers U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1952:PT.744)(reference #13763).”
However, reference #13763 only states “On March 18, 1952, a wave of very large magnitude struck the Southwest Pass west jetty and displaced 180 precast concrete blocks which were yet to be grouted”.
Note: No evidence distinguishing the observation as a tsunami wave. Additionally, no record found yet of a local earthquake in the region on this date.
More
Every tsunami in 1952The 1900sTsunamis of United StatesThis 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 5920.