Panic in Watsonville

I've always wanted to go to Norway and see the migration of the lemmings, where then swarm to the edge of the bluffs and often plunge into the sea. I haven't made it yet, but I saw the next best thing. The recent earthquake in Japan caused a tsunami warning, actually more of an advisory along our coast. People who lived along the three sea level neighborhoods were advised to go to higher ground to avoid possible problems from a projected 2-3 foot tsunami.

It did come, and the ocean retreated and than washed in again and up the beach. It didn't inundate the beachfront streets. However, in Watsonville, over three miles from the beach, a beach which is backed by 30 foot sand dunes, thousands of people crowded the streets, stopping traffic for miles, in a effort to get up the hill. Some went as far as Hollister, almost 30 miles inland. At most of the schools perhaps 10 percent of the students showed up. I can only guess about the businesses that tried to open without their employees.

I doubt that a herd of sheep would have acted this way.