Earthquake & Tsunami

I saw a CNN update on my phone last night about an 8.0+ earthquake {most recently I heard the magnitude had been increased to a 9.0} in Japan and later before bed, I watched the news of the devastation and destruction that happened as the water flowed quickly and freely to the area it didn't belong.

I didn't sleep well last night and found myself awake at 2:30 -- unable to fall back to sleep I wandered to the living room and turned on the news which is when I learned that California, and the entire West Coast of North America, was under a tsunami Warning.

  

A warning means that the tsunami is coming people -- the forecasters are certain.

  

This caused me a few minutes of panic as I imagined myself fleeing to higher ground with my family and our doggies.  I know, I know, we live in Napa and Napa isn't ON the ocean, or even that near it.  But, our little town is not very far above sea level, we have a tide affected river that runs the length of our valley and feeds into San Pablo Bay, which is essentially an extension of the San Francisco Bay. So you can see how I began to get nervous. 

Turns out that the surge wasn't expected to be very high in California and it was estimated to arrive with low tide keeping it as 'in check' as wrath of mother nature can possibly be.

So here in Napa we're perfectly fine, but other parts of our coastline are not.  The harbor in Santa Cruz has been hit pretty hard and Crescent City has been completely evacuated.  It's been fascinating to watch the details on the news because it proves what we know but often forget ~ we are all connected.  An earthquake in Japan was felt, nearly, across the entire world -- certainly across the entire Pacific.  

My thoughts are with the families of lost loved ones in Japan and all the Japanese people.

love and hugs,

Carrie