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'Island' of Earthquake Debris Headed for US

Tires, cars, and human remains to wash up in Hawaii, west coast

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 8, 2011 10:58 AM CDT | Updated Apr 10, 2011 6:09 AM CDT

(Newser) – If oceanographers are right, a veritable island of cars, houses, human remains, and other debris from Japan’s earthquake will soon wash ashore in Hawaii, and from there travel to the west coast of the US. Using computer models developed by tracking buoys across the ocean, researchers at the University of Hawaii in Manoa have predicted the path of the “plume” of debris, which will reach Hawaii by year’s end, CNN reports. It will hit the west coast in three years, according to papers spotted by NPR.

“I’m expecting parts of houses, whole boats, and feet in sneakers to wash up,” one oceanographer tells the Daily Mail. “I'm expecting the unexpected.” The US Navy has spotted the floating junk, and says there’s so much of it that it poses a danger to shipping traffic. “Getting through some of these obstacles doesn't make much sense if you are going to actually cause more debris by having your own vessel become stuck in one of these waterways,” one ensign said.

A search helicopter from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force hovers over floating objects in waters off the devastated town of Kesennuma, northeastern Japan on Friday, April 1, 2011.
A search helicopter from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force hovers over floating objects in waters off the devastated town of Kesennuma, northeastern Japan on Friday, April 1, 2011.   (AP Photo/Yomiuri Shimbun, Yasufumi Nagao)
The carcass of an octopus lies next to submerged debris.
The carcass of an octopus lies next to submerged debris.   (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
Wrecked ships, houses and debris float in the sea in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Sunday, March 13, 2011 after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake hit its eastern coast Friday.
Wrecked ships, houses and debris float in the sea in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, Sunday, March 13, 2011 after Japan's biggest recorded earthquake hit its eastern coast Friday.   (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
A floating crane is used to remove debris from the port at Oshima island in northeastern Japan Monday, March 28, 2011, following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
A floating crane is used to remove debris from the port at Oshima island in northeastern Japan Monday, March 28, 2011, following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.   (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 23 comments
YouLikeDont
Apr 10, 2011 5:27 PM CDT
"Feet in sneakers to wash up." By the time it reaches Hawaii, it would have decomposed/eaten.
littlewolfplaying
Apr 10, 2011 6:37 AM CDT
hey i got a idea, lets put all them out of work, back to work,cleaning up this and many others issues like the floods that our coming to north and the drought in the south and west and fixing the infrastructural in this country and we can do that right now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! think...........think..............think.... looking for answers not problems
Guest1
Apr 9, 2011 7:46 PM CDT
man, that looks like a really nice couch
World • US

 
tsunami • Japan • Hawaii • debris • West Coast • Japan earthquake

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