January 30, 1965 Tsunami: Columbia River Valley, WA, United States

One Puget Islander was killed and damages estimated as exceeding $70,000 resulted Saturday at 1:20 a.m. when a piece of the hill across the Columbia river from the Island fell off. Haakon Gabrielsen, 59, was killed when the slide-caused wave of water hit his house located outside the dike near the power tower. His house was demolished and his personal effects were scattered over a wide area on the inside or the dike. Mrs. Anton Olsen escaped serious injury when the force of the wave pushed her house from the outside to the inside of the dike. Porches on the Fred Aegerter and Tom lrving homes were hit by the water carried debris. The Tom Irving family heard rocks fall all evening. At 1:20 a.m. the Irvings heard a roar like an earthquake. Mrs. Irvin looked outside and saw water rushing around the house. The wave left, logs etc. in the yard, damaged the skirting or the house, took out the fill leading to the house and put rip-rap rock onto the dike. Power lines of the Wahkiakum County Public Utility District No. 1 were damaged to an estimated $4,000 to $5,000. County Engineer Paul Bourgault estimated damage to the dike road as unofficially at $4,800. On the Oregon side a portion of the Spokane-Portland..Seattle railroad track was washed into the river. (reference #13171)