Has a tidal wave ever hit the United States?

freddy_krueger

There are many deadly tidal waves recorded in the USA. Here are a few of them : • In 1900 a storm surge tidal wave in Galveston, TX killed close to 7,000 people. • Also, in 1946, a tsunami tidal wave hit Hawaii and killed 173 people. •In addition to this, a storm surge tidal wave in the northeast USA killed 187 people. • Finally, in 1964 a tsunami hit Alaska and killed a total of 131 people. Jan 11 04, 3:11 PM

lothruin

Oh my goodness. Tidal waves hit all coasts of the US every day. A tidal wave is a wave caused by the tide. See Freddy's answer for deadly tidal waves. The terms "tidal wave" and "tsunami" are not interchangable. See this page at the US Geological Survey for info on tsunamis in the US. http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/tsunami/cascadia.html Tsunami are not caused by the tides. They are caused by seismic activity. Sometimes the term "tidal wave" is used to describe a large, destructive wave, the size of which is caused by storms or a combination of high winds and high tides, etc. This can still be technically correct, since these waves would not strike the coast were it not for the tides. However, a tsunami is independant of tides. The two are related, but the one is not a form of the other. Jan 11 04, 3:34 PM

ecky71

Tides are cyclic rise and fall of sea level caused by the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon. Therefore storms and earthquakes make waves that are independent of the tide. Jan 26 04, 10:18 AM