Crescent City preparing to withstand a once in 50 year tsunami

Heads up West Coast communities.  Pacifica has tsunami zones, plus that high tide land erosion problem.  

The Seattle Times local news/Associated Press, Jeff Barnard, 11/22/12.  "California city building 'tsunami-resistant' port."

"A tsunami watch doesn't mean go watch the tsunami,"  *

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 (2.5 meters) and currents were estimated at 22 feet (6.7 meters) per second.

....  Crescent City was not the only West Coast port slammed by the tsunami, which was generated by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake in Japan. The waves ripped apart docks and sank boats in Santa Cruz, California, and did similar damage in Brookings, Oregon, just north of Crescent City. But their geographical location doesn't make them as vulnerable to multiple tsunamis.

....  Construction has been marked by one delay after another. Government funding was slow, and a custom-built drill bit for installing the extra-strength pilings deep in bedrock broke. So authorities switched to installing temporary docks the old-fashioned way, by pounding in the pilings, to get them through the winter. Many of the 60 commercial fishing boats based in Crescent City are still mooring in the outer harbor. Others have to make do without water or electricity.

The March 2011 tsunami was a wake-up call for communities up and down the West Coast. Many improved tsunami evacuation plans and held mock evacuations. But some experts say the West Coast is still not taking the threat seriously enough. "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."  Read article.

Related -  Huffington Post, 3/13/2011 "Crescent City struggles to deal with Tsynami aftermath."  * Note: the above photograph and caption are from the Huffington Post article.

Related Fix Pacifica reprint articles - Associated Bay Area Governments workship, 11/14/12.  And  Climate Change.

Posted by Kathy Meeh