Study shows tides and earthquakes could create tsunami inundating parts of Anchorage

A first-ever tsunami hazard analysis for Upper Cook Inlet shows risks for low-lying areas like the Port of Alaska and pieces of Girdwood and Hope

By Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon August 17, 2023
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The downtown Anchorage skyline is seen from the Tony Knowles Coastal Trial on June 3, 2022. Until recently, it was widely assumed that the city was immune to tsunami risks because of the shallowness of Cook Inlet and the distance from the open ocean. Now new research shows that certain low-lying part of Alaska's largest city, along with some nearby low-lying areas of the Matanuska-Susitna and Kenai Peninsula boroughs, could be flooded if a powerful earthquake is combined with a high Cook Inlet tide. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
The downtown Anchorage skyline is seen from the Tony Knowles Coastal Trial on June 3, 2022. Until recently, it was widely assumed that the city was immune to tsunami risks because of the shallowness of Cook Inlet and the distance from the open ocean. Now new research shows that certain low-lying part of Alaska’s largest city, along with some nearby low-lying areas of the Matanuska-Susitna and Kenai Peninsula boroughs, could be flooded if a powerful earthquake is combined with a high Cook Inlet tide. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

There is a persistent belief that Anchorage, snug at the head of narrow Cook Inlet, is too far away from the open ocean to be at risk from tsunamis.

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