Day 3 - Thursday, September 25 Stop #1

Tsunami Tower Near Westport, WA

After a drive from Aberdeen around Gray's Harbor to the barrier town of Westport. Weather conditions where cool, foggy in the mid 50's with a slight landward wind off the ocean causing a little ocean spray. The location of this stop was on the south barrier to Gray's Harbor a part of the Columbia River Littoral Cell in the Gray's Plain Sub-cell.

The discussion at this stop concerned tsunami inundation areas in the case of tsunami. Jim Phipps led the discussion a retired professor of Gray's Harbor College. The level of inundation reaches land 30 feet above mean sea level. This created a large area with a lot of development contained with in.

Also discussed was the reveinment walls on the coast to prevent erosion of beach faces. This is a major concern for the coastal developments threatened by the erosion. The reveinment walls are constructed of volcanic Ryolite rocks which are resistant to the erosion from the constant plunging waves especially common during winter storms. The cost of the reveinment walls are quite costly, running $40 a ton. The rocks needed to trucked in and placed costing a lot for construction. There is a lot coastal problems here from natural and manmade factors affecting beach erosion.