A tsunami swept at least five people watching the waves out to sea Friday and ripped docks out of harbors in California and Oregon, spreading the destruction of a devastating Japanese earthquake to the shores of the United States. See video here.

Four people were rescued from the water in southern Oregon, but one man who was taking photos in Northern California was still missing Friday afternoon. Coast Guard helicopters searched for him near the mouth of the Klamath River in Del Norte County, Calif., but called his chances of survival slim in the cold, rough ocean.

The large waves shook loose boats and tore apart docks in at least two California harbors and one in Oregon, causing millions of dollars of damage.

A man was found dead aboard a commercial vessel in Brookings, but sheriff's officials said it appeared to be from natural causes.

"This is just devastating. I never thought I'd see this again," said Ted Scott, a retired mill worker who lived in Crescent City when a 1964 tsunami killed 17 people on the West Coast, including 11 in his town. "I watched the docks bust apart. It buckled like a graham cracker."

The waves didn't make it over a 20-foot break wall protecting the rest of the city, and no home damage was immediately reported.

President Barack Obama said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is ready to come to the aid of any U.S. states or territories who need help.

Some 1,500 Easter Island residents began moving to higher ground ahead of the tsunami expected to hit the island at 1747 ET Friday, Chilean Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said.

The island, known for its gigantic stone sculptures called Moai, is Chile's westernmost territory.

The tsunami should hit Chile's northernmost continental coast starting at 2123 ET according to the Chilean Navy's Shoa oceanographic service.

"We've begun moving residents to higher ground," Hinzpeter told reporters at the National Emergency Service, or Onemi.

A massive earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan Friday was the strongest quake in the area in nearly 1,200 years.

David Applegate, a senior science adviser for earthquake and geologic hazards for the U.S. Geological Survey, said the 8.9-magnitude quake ruptured a patch of the earth's crust 150 miles long and 50 miles across.

He said the earthquake, which also spawned a massive tsunami that hit Japan before racing across the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States, likely caused tens of billions of dollars in structural damage in Japan.

The Haz-Mat unit of the Springfield Fire-Rescue Division worked Thursday afternoon under the Buck Creek bridge on North Limestone Street, hoping to stop some kind of leak in the water.

"We're trying to get ahead of it right now," Battalion Chief Kevin Sprinkle said.

A blue-green discoloration in the water initially was reported before noon Thursday on Springfield's east side, Sprinkle said.

Honolulu - Tsunami waves swamped Hawaii beaches and brushed the U.S. western coast Friday but didn't immediately cause major damage after devastating Japan and sparking evacuations throughout the Pacific.

Kauai was the first of the Hawaiian islands struck by the tsunami, which was caused by an earthquake in Japan. Water rushed ashore at least 11 feet high near Kealakekua Bay, on the west side of the Big Island, and reached the lobby of a hotel. Flooding was reported on Maui, and water washed up on roadways on the Big Island.

Scientists and officials warned that the first tsunami waves are not always the strongest and said residents along the coast should watch for strong currents and heed calls for evacuation.

"The tsunami warning is not over," said Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie. "We are seeing significant adverse activity, particularly on Maui and the Big Island. By no means are we clear in the rest of the state as well."

High waters reached the U.S. western coast by 11:30 a.m. EST Friday, after evacuations were ordered and beaches closed all along the coast.

Earth's magnetic field is still reverberating from a CME strike on March 10th. During the past 24 hours, Northern Lights have descended as far south as Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan in the United States. "It was nice to see the aurora borealis again after so many years of low activity," says Jerry Zhu, who sends this picture from Madison, WI:

Comment:

Today we have an update on Comet Elenin from our astronomer friend. Before I get to that, let me just reassure folks that there is NOT going to be a pole shift in the next week or so as certain raving nutzoids have been spamming all over the net. Also, Comet Elenin is NOT going to hit Earth (which is not to say that other things won't at some point in space and time). However, there are a few things about this comet that are extremely interesting in view of the plasma comet theory of James McCanney. Again, I suggest that readers get a copy of this book and get up to speed on this theory and how comets can affect our entire solar system electromagnetically, and how that can dramatically affect our sun and therefore planet Earth. There is an increasing body of evidence that electromagnetic disturbance of our Sun is directly related to earthquakes, volcanism, and weather on our planet.

So, with that in mind, let's have a look at some new predictions for what relationships the planets of our solar system might form with the incoming body. Our astronomer friend - who wishes to remain anonymous for the present, but I can tell you that he works at a large observatory - has run the algorithm with the latest orbital elements available on Elenin. Here is the animation:

Honolulu -- Tsunami waves hit Hawaii in the early morning hours Friday and were sweeping through the island chain after an earthquake in Japan sparked evacuations throughout the Pacific and as far as the U.S. western coast.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said Kauai was the first of the Hawaiian islands hit by the tsunami. Water rushed ashore in Honolulu, swamping the beach in Waikiki and surging over the break wall in the world-famous resort but stopping short of the area's high-rise hotels

Bad weather that dumped rain, hail and snow across the country Thursday claimed three victims, as three Syrian farmers went missing when they were swept away by a overflowing river along Lebanon's northern border with Syria.

The National News Agency reported that Abdullah Rayya, Hassan Shmaisi and Walid Rayya, from the Syrian village of Maajir, were carried off by the al-Nahr al-Kabir river while riding their tractor on the Syrian side of the border in the Wadi Khaled region in Akkar.

Syrian and Lebanese authorities, along with locals, are carrying out intensive search efforts for them, the NNA added.

The heavy rainfall inflicted considerable damage to agricultural areas and closed roads and schools in mountainous areas, while residents of coastal regions experienced rare hail storms.

Also in the north, heavy rainfall accompanied by hail struck Tripoli overnight, flooding the streets of the northern city and prompting traffic jams during rush hour Thursday.

Manado - One of Indonesia's most active volcanos has erupted, sending lava and searing gas clouds tumbling down its slopes.

Volcanology official Agus Budianto said Friday that authorities were still trying to evacuate residents living along the slopes of Mount Karangetang.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage.

The 5,853-foot (1,784-meter) mountain is located on Siau, part of the Sulawesi island chain. It last erupted in August, killing four people.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is located on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

The eruption happened hours after a massive earthquake in Japan that triggered a Pacific-wide tsunami.