For up-to-date tsunami alerts are here. This is a developing story.
UPDATE July 29, 2025 at 10:42 p.m.
Atka, Adak, St. Paul and St. George are no longer under a tsunami warning, according to the National Tsunami Warning Center. They have been downgraded to a tsunami advisory.
Unalaska is still under a tsunami advisory. Unalaska Public Safety has asked locals to remain alert and listen for updates.
You can check out the latest information at tsunami.gov, with updates posted every 60 minutes there. KUCB will continue to update the story Wednesday during normal working hours.
Updated July 29, 2025 at 9:00 p.m.
In Adak, the National Tsunami Warning Center observed a .9 ft tsunami -- the highest water level above the tide level. The forecasted tsunami duration is 15 hours.
Unalaska is NOT under a tsunami warning, but is still under a tsunami advisory. Unalaska Public Safety has asked locals to remain alert and listen for updates.
For up-to-date tsunami alerts go to tsunami.gov.
Updated July 29, 2025 at 7:12 p.m.
Alaska communities in the Aleutians and Pribilofs are under a tsunami warning after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Kamchatka at about 3:25 p.m. Alaska time.
The tsunami warning currently includes Atka, Adak, St. Paul and St. George. A tsunami advisory is in effect for Alaska coastlines from Chignik Bay west to Samalga Pass, near Nikolski.
Unalaska is NOT under a tsunami warning. The National Weather Service has issued a tsunami advisory for the island. Unalaska Public Safety has asked locals to remain alert and listen for updates.
An update at 5:27 p.m. Alaska time canceled the tsunami watch for the Alaska Peninsula east of Chignik Bay as well as southern and Southeast Alaska.
A tsunami warning means people should evacuate inland or to higher ground. Under an advisory, people are advised to stay out of the water and away from beaches and waterways.
In its most recent update, the Tsunami Warning Center downgraded its forecasted wave heights for several Alaska communities. Those forecasts now range from 1.2-2.2 feet in Adak to less than a foot elsewhere.
In Adak, City Manager Breck Craig and most of the community gathered to wait for the wave at the Bering Hill Chapel. The town’s village public safety officer, Mike Lejarzar, peered out to Kuluk Bay with his binoculars, looking for any signs of a tsunami.
“Are you seeing anything, Mike?” Craig asked. “You don’t see anything?”
A wave was forecasted to arrive at 5:40 p.m., but Craig saw no sign of one.
Craig said that by then, most of the town had evacuated to the chapel, which acts as the city’s tsunami shelter.
“We sounded the tsunami siren and collected everybody up and got everybody up here,” Craig said. “We're all just kind of hanging out, waiting for what they're thinking is a one foot or three foot wave maybe to come in.”
Craig said everyone had gone home by about 7 p.m., but the city would stay vigilant and watch any updates over the next 15 hours. According to the National Weather Service, tsunamis are a series of waves, and a large tsunami can continue for hours or days in some locations.
In Atka, one of the westernmost communities in the Aleutian Chain, Mayor Luke Snigaroff said that no wave had materialized as of 6:12 p.m., but that the roughly two dozen residents in the Unangax̂ village were waiting on high ground.
“We’re still under warning,” Snigaroff said in a telephone interview. “Everybody’s up at the water treatment plant or the quarantine shelter.”
A magnitude of 8.8 would make this one of the ten largest earthquakes ever recorded worldwide, and the largest in more than a decade.
KUCB’s Maggie Nelson and Theo Greenly contributed reporting.
Updated July 29, 2025 at 6:15 p.m.
A 1.3-2.5 foot wave was expected to hit Adak around 5:40 Tuesday evening. City officials say they didn’t see any visual signs of a wave. But that doesn’t mean more waves can’t come later.
Original:
Alaska communities in the Aleutians and Pribilofs are under a tsunami warning after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Kamchatka at about 3:25 p.m. Alaska time.
The tsunami warning currently includes Atka, Adak, St. Paul and St. George, while tsunami watches and advisories are in effect for much of coastal Alaska and the U.S. Pacific coast.
Unalaska is NOT under a tsunami warning. The National Weather Service has issued a tsunami advisory for the island. Unalaska Public Safety has asked locals to remain alert and listen for updates.
A tsunami warning means people should evacuate inland or to higher ground. Under an advisory, people are advised to stay out of and away from the water, though widespread flooding is not expected.
According to the advisory, tsunami activity could start in Adak at 5:46 p.m. AKDT and in St. Paul at 7:06 p.m. AKDT.
A magnitude of 8.7 would make this one of the ten largest earthquakes ever recorded worldwide, and the largest in more than a decade.
