tsunami waves are different. they come out and go out at a wave every ten, 20, 30 or 40 minutes. what happens in a harbor situation is sometimes one way it comes in and before the wave gets a chance to go back out again or all the water gets a chance to go back out another one comes in. so you get the build up that occurs. so really a lot of times the problem is inundation. in other words, areas that get flooded out because of tsunami, not because they have a huge wall of water coming in on it. so that's really the problem for

people on land. as far as the boats, they can get rocked around for even a tsunami wave a little more than a meter or so. just because of the volume of water that's contained in that long period wave. that's why a one meter wave or a cc1:five-foot tsunami wave causes a lot more problems than a three-foot regular ocean wave, just because of the pure share of volume in that wave. >> if you are just joining us, we are talking to the tsunami center in hawaii. if i am watching this, mr. cc1:: koyonagi, and i'm along the coast of san francisco, that should i do? >> if you are watching it? >> well, i'm watching this television program, what am i supposed to do? >> in california and the west coast now, they have pretty

established procedures on what areas need to be evacuated and how far you need to go. of course, they are going to give you different information based on a specific location that you are at and the specific tsunami wave that's coming in. i can't really speculate as far as what they are telling me. >> let me rephrase my question. who should i ask? if i am in this place, should i call my local police department and say, am i part of this evacuation? >> right, in most cases it is emergency services office or in a case of a small town, probably the police department, yeah. >> okay. i appreciate you being with us an putting up with some of my questions here. >> no problem. thanks a lot. >> we'll be in touch with you as well. certainly one of the most important things we just learned is what he talked about with the reason of the crest of a tsunami

is so powerful is that it comes in and doesn't have a chance to go out before the next one comes in. and we get this inundation. so flooding becomes more of an issue than some super wave or anything like this. if you are just joining us, there's a tsunami warning for all of the pacific rim. this includes northern california and all of the counties that you can hear my voice in with the exception probably of livermore and traci. but this is important information to get to you. so we continue to cover this. we'll take a short break and be back in just a minute.

welcome back to you. i'm scott mcgrew. you are looking at special coverage of nbc bay area news and the tsunami and earthquake in japan and the continued

tsunami warning here in northern california. you are looking at a live picture of the bay bridge where everything is perfectly normal for now. let me read you the tsunami warning. it is a tsunami warning continues in effect for the coastal areas of california and oregon all the way to the washington/oregon border. we are expecting the tsunami such as it is to hit between 7:45 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. our time. the tsunami warning center has it pinpointed to 8:08, but we'll know so very much more as it hits hawaii. what does this mean to you? well, that's hard to say as we take a look around the bay area. let's go to christina loren. kris key ta christina, they are talking about a 1 1/2-foot wave height, that sunt doesn't sound like much, but they are taking

it seriously. yes, a wall of water is what a tsunami is. it is going to push-up all kinds of water. when you are talking about a wall of water with a major force, tsunamis can travel up to 650 miles under the ocean with that resistance. then you are talking about the possibility of flooding. we are not letting our guard down this morning. the situation does seem to be improving. at first we were calling for a three-foot wall of water, but now it looks like one foot or a foot and a half in some places. the ocean floor topography will change, though. you are talking about major force coming to the ocean coast. heading through the next couple of hours once we see what happens in hawaii we'll have a much better picture of what we can expect here on the california coast. today's weather looks good. i can tell you right now once we get past this situation by about 9:00 a.m., if you are concerned about the forecast, you don't have anything to worry about as our temperatures will climb from the upper 40s and low 50s to the 60s today. a little rain on the way for the

weekend, but we want to find out if we have any impact. are people trying to get out and e vak wait right now, mike? so far the roadways are relatively normal, but you are talking about evacuation. i want to read a new message from the san mateo county emergency system. they are just saying that all beaches and low-lying coastal areas should be evacuated immediately. as we have been telling you, and schools are listed as well. leave the coast, law enforcement will direct you. if you have no other place to go, evacuation shelters are set up at taranova high school, fair lawn view high school and pescadero high school. this information was sent to the folks in princeton, moss beach and other coastal communities. daly city, pescadero and other areas inland need to take note.

this will come in around 8:08 this morning. it is not just the initial wave, but it is also the surge of water that comes in through the bay. a reminder the bay extends south and north past the golden gate bridge. so we'll look at the maps here. we are looking at the marin area here underneath the golden gate bridge. water is pretty calm. we have about four hours until we should really see this, but the big update will come once hawaii sees bigger waves. we are going to talk to jeff ranieri in a minute, but i want to talk to your expertise for a minute. what does this mean for b.a.r.t.? >> they simply issued a statement saying they have activated their emergency systems in preparation for anything that might happen. right now no changes for b.a.r.t. they are set to start their schedule at 4:30 for some of the lines. 5:00 for most of the major lines. >> including under the bay? >> that is right. they have made no update on what they are going to do as the 8:00 hour approaches, but like you said, that's when we could see

waves and other issues happening. i'll definitely monitoring the alerts carefully. we are talking under the water, but let's talk about over the c: water. we are talking about an san mateo bridge here. we talk at the high-rise for winds. but look at the lower areas near the fremont and newark side as leave 880 near c1: plaza.lcc1: that area is very low along the water. you can see all the dredging equipment through there. the mud often comes up right to the edge of the roadway. and during rains we see flooding on the edge of the roadway.cc1: if this does raise the bay like they said, even a foot, maybe up to three feet in some spots, this could be an issue for the lower areas. some folks call it the radio tower area because there are --: >> yes, that's very low. what about south of candlestick park there? that's higher but that always makes me her nervous as i drive by. >> definitely right along the

water we'll see the sculptures approaching candlestick. definitely a concern. if it raises the bay, it raises the entire bay, not just one chunk of the bay. water, it is fluent and very powerful. >> i know we are talking with refineries and talking with water supply companies, one of the concerns, obviously, is both have pipes that are going into the bay. we will have reports from them as well. we have marla tellez who i usgs.ve is at cccc1: are you with us, marla? >> reporter: hi, scott, can you hear me? >> yes, i can. go right ahead. >> reporter: okay. we are not at the usgs if that's what you said. we are at the department of emergency management here in san francisco. folks can imagine, thecc1: here have been working overnight assessing the situation. they have been relying on reports from cnn and have been in touch with the california emergency management agency assessing the situation. dugin, o bring in robcc1:

the deputy director here at the department. we want to let folks know the placecc1: order is not in this morning. >> that's correct. we are not asking anybody along the waterfront to evacuate. based on the data we have from the california emergency management agency and the scientific community, the actual result of this event is just a couple feet rise in the water. it will happen at around low tide. so what we are looking at just to put it in context is really ocean levels that are not any higher than our current high tide. >> reporter: so, again, it is a tsunami warning, which is the highest level. there are watches and then there's a warning, which is even more imminent. >> correct. these are issued for a broad area. we have to narrow that down to what we can expect in the san francisco jurisdiction. obviously, if you look at other areas such as crescent city where they are traditionally much harder hit in these areas, they are evacuating and it is

prudent for them to do so. we are not evacuating based on data we receive that tells us the water is going to rise a couple feet at low tide, so it is not really going to hit anywhere that it is not supposed to hit. so based on the data we make the decision to not evacuate. >> reporter: still, the beaches are closed at this point. this is a decision you made with the national park service. >> that's correct. that's an overabundance of caution. but we want to make sure if it comes ashore more than it should that it won't go over the sea wall. so as a precaution we closed the beaches, we closed the great highway, both as an extra layer of security. also, these events do tend to bring out people who want to sightsee and see what's happening at the beach. we closed great highway as a way to mitt grate any traffic congestion that may occur down there. >> reporter: so stay away from the beaches this morning, they are closed. for those who live along the

coastline, what's your advice to them? >> monitor local media. if we get new data from the state to suggest another action, we'll broadcast that using the outdoor public warning system, the sirens, using the media, using the alert ss system, there's multiple ways to get that out. we see it incredibly unlikely this morning. what the data is saying is that it will not happen. monitor local media and go about your day. >> reporter: then 8:00 comes around and no tsunami, what happens then, can we all relax? >> yes. seriously, we are going to watch this for a couple hours into the morning just to see what happens bautz the nature of tsunamis is they come in waves. there's no other way to say it. as you get some energy and get more energy and more energy, over a period of several hours we'll watch this into the morning just to see what's happening. but also understanding that typically each it ration of this energy coming ashore is moving the water and it tend to

dissipate. until we get an idea of what's coming at us, we'll watch it and then all go back to get some sleep. >> reporter: thank you for your time this morning. i'm sure we will interview again this morning. so stay awake for us, please. >> we are here. >> reporter: the points to take away from this is no evacuation order is needed for san francisco. the beaches are closed, that's ocean, baker, china beach, the great highway is also closed. fort funston is closed this morning. stay tuned for the latest updates and just be safe this morning. that's the latest from san francisco, scott? >> marla, thank you much. there's a tsunami warning throughout the pacific rim after just a massive earthquake, one of the biggest ever, possibly the biggest ever to hit japan just off the island of honshu. we have a tsunami warning here. san mateo county is issuing a warning that says all beaches and low-lying coastal areas should be evacuated immediately.

low-lying areas west of highway 1, move to high ground east of the highway. lind mar, this is the same for you. we don't know what's going to happen, but you have tremendous amounts of time. the waves are not expected to hit until 7:45. jeff ranieri is out near the ocean. jeff, continue this for us. >> reporter: well, as we just heard from marla and crew as well, there's no evacuations right now in the san francisco bay area. however, does it mean all of the concerns should be left by the waist side? as you can see back behind me here, the golden gate bridge and the sea rough as it usually and always is here in the san francisco bay, but the thing we are monitoring is in about three hours from now that's when the wave action is expected to increase, possibly some two to four feet as we have been

hearing. and while that may not be substantial amounts of water to produce flooding or certainly be major damage here along the coastline, it is something that you want to be aware of because that water can come up quickly and certainly could cause problems on some of these roadways that have already been sach wait rated from recent rain. again, in about three hours right here in the san francisco bay we are going to start to see and feel some of the impacts of the force of that swarm of quakes that happened throughout japan. it really is astonishing when you think how far all of that energy is traveling, that it could even rise our water right here from two to four feet. the other thing we want to mention is the tsunami warning happening not only from the san francisco bay but from washington and oregon all the way down to the santa barbara coastline where we will be feeling the impacts along the beaches. so if you do not need to be out

at the beaches here, we are in a safe area here and head back in if need be. no evacuations here in the san francisco bay, but we are still under a tsunami warning. >> jeff, two things for you. first, people see you out there, they should not go out there, that's one thing. >> reporter: yeah. >> secondly, explain to me why a 1 1/2-foot wave is scary if i'm seeing them behind you now. >> reporter: well, it is not necessarily that. the two to four-foot wave action we are going to be seeing is not something we might see during a storm event. it is just the fact that the power in the energy underneath the ocean that's being generated by this potential force in the ocean, that's something that is unforeseen. while it may not look that rough out to you there, it looks like the normal coastline. we are talking about the rough

understood undertow, it can pull you out. all the surfers that want to head out in this activity, this will catch you off guard, and this is the kind of thing that could kill people if they do head out to the coast and they decide to get in the water. the tsunami warning has been issued for a reason. and it is for that, that you should stay away from the coastline. yes, we are right near the water, but we are here with a crew of people and can get out of here if need be. we are three hours away from feeling the wave action. that could increase to two to four feet. >> jeff ranieri, thank you so much. we have been talking about b.a.r.t. running normal schedules. we have talked to san francisco and their emergency management system is talking about no evacuation. san mateo county is talking about evacuations according to a bulletin they sent out a short time ago. but only for very low-lying areas, and the chances are you already know where you are.

the tsunami such that it is is expected to hit between 7:45 and 8:08 our time. we'll take a quick breako nd ou back tour experts and continue coverage on nbc bay area.

good morning, everyone. i'm laura garcia-cannon in the nbc bay area newsroom continuing to follow the massive earthquake that hit japan this morning. it triggered a tsunami alert

across 19 different countries. here's some video we are getting in from japan this morning. even for a country used to earthquakes, this one is massive. and now people that are trying to escape and get to higher ground, they are having a hard time dealing with so many aftershocks of the 6.0 and over range. large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high into the waves into many cities crumbled because of the massive quake. you can see the floodwaters from the ocean inundating the area. some trucks and homes were picked up along the way, literally just slamming into overpasses. upturned and partially submerged vehicles. it is a massive mess. waves of muddy water swept over farm lands near a lot of outlying areas, carrying buildings, some on fire. spontaneous fires broke out in many areas jack. pan declared a nuclear emerge y emergency. they have plants that automatically shut down.

many developed mechanical failure after the shutdowns, so they are closely monitoring those, but no radiation leaks to report so far in the japan area. measures were used as a precaution. 11 nuclear reactors were shut down in an effort to keep things under control. here's a lot of different pictures of all the waters rushing over the region there. as we mentioned, the 8.9 quake triggered this massive tsunami. the quake itself was six miles deep, and centered out into the ocean. that's why the waters really came in so rapidly as people barely had time to escape. we know at least 40 people have been killed, 39 others missing. with e know those numbers most likely are going to quickly, quickly rise. now, in tokyo itself, downtown tokyo, large buildings shook violently. workers poured on to the streets because for us it happened at 9:45 last night, but for them it was 2:40 friday afternoon.

a lot of people were getting ready to get off work and whatnot. some people are still trapped at work and couldn't get out of their buildings. some were told to stay and take cover, but they are dealing with so many aftershocks and it is a very scary situation as you see the buildings here are just crumbling to the ground. this is, in fact, video inside an office building where they had a camera rolling at the time of the quake and then several aftershocks continued to happen quite rapidly after this. now, in regards to travel in the area, in central tokyo, trains were stopped, passengers walked along the tracks into platforms. this is pictures of a refinery fire. i mentioned a lot of small fires breaking out. this is a refinery fire that broke out as well that we are continuing to monitor. in regards to travel, trains were stopped and passengers were taken out. tokyo's sanjuko station is the busiest area. it will be tough because a lot of people want to get out of

downtown tokyo to go home, but they have completely stopped these areas. major airports as well, i need to mention this to you, tokyo's main airport is closed. we will feel that affect here in the bay area because all the flights to japan are being canceled at this time. so we are going to keep tabs on that. of course, we are talking about the tsunami itself, how it has been issued as a warning to the pacific rim. so many outlying areas, hawaii is set to see that hit at 5:00 a.m., 8:00 our time here. we'll go to christina loren with more information on the flood watch. exactly. all up and down the coast, especially in low-lie irlying areas, we are five minutes out from the actual tsunami hitting the hawaiian islands. it looks like it will hit oahu first. we'll have live reports letting you know what's happening there. and once we see what happens in hawaii we'll have a much better

picture as to what we can expect in the bay area. one thing you want to do is avoid the marina, don't hit the surf this morning. very dangerous conditions. the beaches are closed. we are not taking this lightly by any stretch. heading throughout the next couple of hours the situation will really start to unfold for us. live television, we are going to bring it to you all morning long. we are very concerned right now. all i can say to you, do not panic. if you do want to evacuate living in san mateo and just received word of evacuation, i think that you just want to take it easy, make sure that you take it easy and stay alert because as we head through the next couple of hours we'll see a situation where people do get concerned and they do leave their house because they are afraid to get hit by a giant tsunami. we are talking about a one-foot wave and the possibility of some coastal flooding. i don't think it is something you need to panic about. you do need to stay alert in a low-lying area. of course, arriving at our coastline between 7:30 and 8:30, what time is that? that's right in the heart of

rush hour. so we'll find out exactly what's going to happen here and bring it to you live all morning long. scott, back to you. christina, thank you. if you are just joining us we are talking about the tsunami warning for the pacific coast, including all of california. the tsunami warning continues in effect says the tsunami warning center for the coastal areas of california and oregon to the oregon/washington border. we expect a wave height of 1 1/2 feet. doesn't sound like much, but we have talked about why that's an issue and flooding could be an issue with a target time of 8:08 a.m. we have all kinds of experts all over, including on the coast itself. mike inouye is talki go b.a.r.t. we have the national weather service as well. back in a minute. 3 o'clock. my daily meeting with a salty snack

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breaking news out of japan this morning. a massive 8.9 earthquake has devastated cities all across japan. we have new video and pictures coming into o