July 16, 2023 Tsunami: Sand Point, AK, United States
A tsunami caused by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake began at Sand Point, AK, United States on July 16, 2023 at 06:48:22 UTC. The water rose as high as 0.15 meters. Its effects were recorded at 3 places. It killed 1 person.
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
- July 16, 2023, 06:48:22 UTC
- Source
- Sand Point, AK, United States
- Cause
- Earthquake
- Earthquake
- Magnitude 7.2, 32 km deep
- Maximum water height
- 0.15 m (0.5 ft)
- Runups recorded
- 3
- Warning
- Local Tsunami Warning issued by a regional or national warning center
- Waters
- Ocean
- How certain
- Definite tsunami
- Source location
- 54.460° N, 160.760° W
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
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.
A Kodiak woman died in a hit-and-run collision during Saturday’s tsunami warning and evacuation, amid a dense late-night flow of vehicle and pedestrian traffic to higher ground […] According to [Kodiak police Lt. Francis] De la Fuente, traffic was heavier than during previous emergency warnings, partly because more people were downtown. “We had a lot of people walking, going up to the high school from downtown, and it was a Saturday,” he said. “We have apartment complexes from the canneries and businesses downtown that we needed to evacuate.” (reference #13556)
[the driver] told officers he was driving to the Kodiak High School parking lot, which is the evacuation site for Kodiak residents during emergencies. (reference #13563)
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sand Point, AK, AK | United States | 99 | 0.15 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| King Cove, AK, AK | United States | 121 | 0.15 | Tide gauge (half the maximum wave height) | |||
| Kodiak, AK, AK | United States | Eyewitness observation of water height | 1 |
More
Every tsunami in 2023The 2000sTsunamis of United StatesThe earthquakeThis 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 5883.