Tsunami warning for B.C.’s coast is cancelled after Alaska quake

Jan 23, 2018 | 3:53 AM

VANCOUVER — The tsunami warning issued for coastal British Columbia has been cancelled.

Residents along the province’s coast were woken by warning sirens today shortly after the quake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck at about 1:30 a.m. Pacific time today off the coast of Alaska.

Lois Varnado of the National Tsunami Warning Centre in Alaska says the warning has been cancelled for coastal areas of British Columbia and Alaska.

The quake struck 278 kilometres southeast of Kodiak at a depth of about 10 kilometres.

Patricia Leidl, communications director with Emergency Preparedness BC, confirms the warning has been downgraded.

She said hours after the quake there was a three centimetre wave and a 15 centimetre rise in sea level at Tofino on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

A number of communities were evacuated as residents headed to higher ground. Ucluelet, Masset, and Port McNeil were just some of the places where residents heard the sirens and headed to areas of safety.

Places like Greater Vancouver and Greater Victoria were not under the warning.