The tsunami warning issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency was the most serious on its warning scale; it rated as a "major tsunami", being at least 3 m (9.8 ft) high.[85] The actual height predicted varied, the greatest being for Miyagi at 6 m (20 ft) high.[86] The tsunami inundated a total area of approximately 561 km2 (217 sq mi) in Japan.[87]
The earthquake took place at 14:46 JST around 67 km (42 mi) from the nearest point on Japan's coastline, and initial estimates indicated the tsunami would have taken 10 to 30 minutes to reach the areas first affected, and then areas farther north and south based on the geography of the coastline.[88][89] Just over an hour after the earthquake at 15:55 JST, a tsunami was observed flooding Sendai Airport, which is located near the coast of Miyagi Prefecture,[90][91] with waves sweeping away cars and planes and flooding various buildings as they traveled inland.[92][93] The image of the tsunami sweeping cars on the street in Sendai was caught by an in-car camera. The impact of the tsunami in and around Sendai Airport was filmed by an NHK News helicopter, showing a number of vehicles on local roads trying to escape the approaching wave and being engulfed by it.[94] A 4 m high tsunami hit Iwate Prefecture.[95] Wakabayashi Ward in Sendai was also particularly hard hit.[96] At least 101 designated tsunami evacuation sites were hit by the wave.[97]
Like the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the damage by surging water, though much more localized, was far more deadly and destructive than the actual quake. There were reports of entire towns destroyed from tsunami-hit areas in Japan, including 9,500 missing in Minamisanriku;[98] one thousand bodies had been recovered in the town by 14 March 2011.[99]
Among several factors causing the high death toll from the tsunami, one was the unexpectedly large size of the water surge. The tsunami walls at several of the affected cities were based on much smaller tsunami heights. Also, many people caught in the tsunami thought that they were located on high enough ground to be safe.[100]
Large parts of Kuji and the southern section of Ōfunato including the port area were almost entirely destroyed[101][102] Also largely destroyed wasRikuzentakata, where the tsunami was reportedly three stories high.[103][104][105] Other cities reportedly destroyed or heavily damaged by the tsunami include Kamaishi, Miyako, Ōtsuchi, and Yamada (in Iwate Prefecture), Namie, Sōma and Minamisōma (in Fukushima Prefecture) and Shichigahama,Higashimatsushima, Onagawa, Natori, Ishinomaki, and Kesennuma (in Miyagi Prefecture).[106][107][108][109][110][111][112] The most severe effects of the tsunami were felt along a 670-km (420 mi)-long stretch of coastline from Erimo in the north to Ōarai in the south, with most of the destruction in that area occurring in the hour following the earthquake.[113] Near Ōarai, people captured images of a huge whirlpool that had been generated by the tsunami.[114] The tsunami washed away the sole bridge to Miyatojima, Miyagi, isolating the island's 900 residents.[115] A two meter high tsunami hit Chiba Prefecture about 2 1/2 hours after the quake, causing heavy damage to cities such as Asahi.[116]
On 13 March 2011, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) published details of tsunami observations recorded around the coastline of Japan following the earthquake. These observations included tsunami maximum readings of over 3 m (9.8 ft) at the following locations and times on 11 March 2011, following the earthquake at 14:46 JST:[117]
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