Calif. city building a "tsunami-resistant" port Associated Press Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 9:27 a.m., Thursday, November 22, 2012 Churning water rushes into the boat basin and then rushes out, lifting docks off their pilings, tearing boats loose and leaving the city's main economic engine looking as if it has been bombed. Port officials are hoping that tsunami is among the last of many that have forced major repairs in Crescent City, a tiny commercial fishing village on California's rugged northern coast. Officials are spending $54 million to build the West Coast's first harbor able to withstand the kind of tsunami expected to hit once every 50 years — the same kind that hit in 2011, when the highest surge in the boat basin measured 8.1 feet and currents were estimated at 22 feet per second. "Normally, Crescent City takes the hit for all of us," said Brookings harbormaster Ted Fitzgerald. Since a tidal gauge was installed in the boat basin in 1934, this small port has been hit by 34 tsunamis, large and small. "Many ports on the West Coast are in denial as to their tsunami hazard," said Costas Synolakis, professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California.