A state of emergency has been declared in Curry County, to begin recovery in communities that suffered millions of dollars in damages from the tsunami that swept the Oregon coast Friday.

Governor John Kitzhaber made the declaration Tuesday afternoon, in a bid to get government aid to Brookings, Gold Beach and Orford, whose harbors suffered the most damage.

“I want to get Curry County the financial help it needs to get back to work and start rebuilding their community immediately,” Kitzhaber said at a Salem news conference.

Federal agencies require an emergency declaration before releasing clean-up funds.

Damage estimates ranged from $13 million to $30 million in hardest-hit Brookings, where surges up to six feet smashed boats, sunk others, and ripped apart docks.

Commercial fishermen said loss of boats, gear, and crab pots could mean millions of dollars lost just before the April opening of shrimp season.

Emergency officials along the coast have praised first responders and volunteers for knocking on doors to alert residents to move to higher ground.

Some complained that early-warning sirens didn’t work properly, and Curry County Sheriff John Bishop said the tsunami proved the state’s emergency reaction system still needs improvement.

“There needs to be statewide training,” he told the Oregonian. “All of us should have blown our horns at the same time.  There needs to be one system.”

Yet social media, from Twitter to texts, proved speedy, and coastal journalists updated websites and YouTube channels regularly with posts and videos.

Surging waves and floating concrete chunks at the Brookings port proved especially popular on YouTube, where one amateur videographer unleashed a stream of expletives as his boat rocked, and gear fell into the waves.