November 19, 2009 Tsunami: Pantano do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil
A tsunami of meteorological origin began at Pantano do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil on November 19, 2009. The water rose as high as 3 meters. Its effects were recorded at 1 place.
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
- November 19, 2009
- Source
- Pantano do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil
- Cause
- Meteorological
- Maximum water height
- 3 m (9.8 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 1
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Probable tsunami
The toll
- Injuries
- 1
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 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 #13945:
According to the news found on the Internet, at least one big wave hit the coast at 17:00 (local time, 14:00 GMT), causing considerable damage, including cars, fishing boats, restaurants and various beach infrastructure. There were few people on the beach at that moment and only one fisherman was slightly injured. The same source reported that the estimated wind speed was around 80 km/h (~ 22 m/s).
Melo Filho et al. (2010) stated that a line of instability was the cause of the waves and estimated the maximum runup close to 3 m high above the mean sea level. Thus, this event can be associated with the shift of the low-pressure center, characterizing the corresponding event as a “bad-weather, open-coast type” according to the classification by Rabinovich (2020).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pantano do Sul | Brazil | 3 | Runup height, post-tsunami survey |
More
Every tsunami in 2009The 2000sTsunamis of BrazilThis 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 5981.