The National Weather Service has issued a tsunami warning for Alaska and British Columbia after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.9 (which was originally measured at 8.2) occurred 175 miles southeast of Kodiak in the Gulf of Alaska early Tuesday morning.
Those in coastal areas should move inland to higher ground. The warning was issued for the outer coast of Alaska and British Columbia from the Washington border to Attu Island and will remain in effect until further notice.
A tsunami warning means a tsunami is possible or is already occurring.
National Weather Service Forecaster Jessica Voveris said Juneau is at a low risk for a tsunami in general. Still, the Juneau office issued warnings to radio stations, and people throughout Southeast received warnings on their cellphones.
As of 2:15 a.m., NWS forecasters did not expect a tsunami to reach Juneau.
“In Juneau, we anticipate very low chances of any significant wave activity in the Gastineau Channel,” NWS Juneau tweeted at 2:17 a.m.
Alex McCarthy contributed to this report.
