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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016
Aside from money, tsunami tower moving ahead
Designed to
protect 850
people from a
22-foot tsunami
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
EO Media Group
LONG BEACH, Wash. —
Work on the vertical evac-
uation structure near Long
Beach Elementary campus
is progressing. However, due
to previously undocumented
issues with the soil condi-
tions at the site, the city will
have to spend an estimated
$1 million that was not built
into the now $3.5 million
cost of construction.
“We’ve really got to ind
more money,” Long Beach
City Planner Gayle Borchard
said.
Known as the “Safe Haven
Berm Project,” the effort to
build the tower began about
seven years ago. It is a col-
laboration between a Uni-
versity of Washington team,
the city and the state and fed-
eral agencies that are funding
much of the project through
grants.
The goal of the project is
to provide a safe, easily-ac-
cessible place to shelter peo-
ple in the event of a major
earthquake or tsunami.
Though vertical evacua-
tion structures exist in some
other tsunami-prone coun-
tries, Long Beach’s plans are
breaking new ground in the
United States.
“There’s nothing like this
in the United States of Amer-
ica right now,” Borchard said.
Project gaining
momentum
Despite the increase in esti-
mated ground stabilization
costs, the design phase of the
project is gaining momentum.
“We’ve just been slowly
moving, and now we’re
quickly moving,” Borchard
said. City oficials recently
chose one of four proposed
designs for the enormous
reinforced earth and concrete
structure. The site survey, wet-
lands and biological surveys,
geotechnical
investigation
and archaeological survey are
complete, and technicians are
now working on more detailed
assessments of building and
permitting requirements.
Borchard said the city coun-
cil and staff originally looked
at three proposed designs from
PND, Inc. A design nicknamed
“The Snail” was quickly dis-
missed as impractical. Another
design, called “The Orb,” had
a proile similar to a modern
professional football stadium.
City leaders preferred a third
design, known as “The Prow,”
because it is shaped like the
front of a large ship. How-
ever, even though it was the
most affordable option, it was
still too costly. The city asked
PND to modify the design, and
the engineers came back with
“The Simpliied Prow” which
will cost about $2.9 million in
construction dollars.
The city council voted to
accept the Simpliied Prow
design in June.
Plenty of room
According to PND docu-
ments, the completed structure
will have a lat, 8,500-square-
is that things will change,
because this is a pilot proj-
ect,” Borchard said — in
other words, it’s not shock-
ing there were no surprises,
because no one in America
has ever done a project like
this before.
Cost of saving citizens
David Plechl/EO Media Group
This architectural rendering shows a design for the evacuation berm proposed for a site
behind Long Beach Elementary.
foot top, and will stand
roughly 35 feet above ground,
with a base that goes down
well below ground level. The
berm is designed to withstand
serious earthquakes, as well
as tsunami waves of up to 22
feet in height with a velocity
of 18 mph. The design, which
has steps and a ramp running
around the circumference,
also accounts for the effects of
“scouring.” Borchard said the
forceful tsunami waves could
potentially shave several feet
off the ground surface sur-
rounding the berm.
“The speeds are just phe-
nomenal,” Borchard said.
Though it’s designed to hold
850 people, Borchard said it
can easily hold more people,
because that estimate is based
on allowing a 10-by-10 “bub-
ble” around each person. Engi-
neers have assured her that
the structure is sound enough
to hold as many people as can
comfortably it on it.
Budget challenges
So far, the city has spent
about $230,000 of its $448,000
design budget. That money
went to design costs, site
investigation and permitting.
Before construction can
start, the city will have to go
through an involved permit-
ting and approval process
with various state and fed-
eral authorities. Though it’s
developed as a sports ield, the
soggy school property where
the berm will be built is techni-
cally a wetland, Borchard said.
That means the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers will likely
require the city to do mitiga-
tion work to offset the effects
of construction.
The more recent in-depth
geotechnical
investigation
revealed that there is a thin
layer of peat near the surface
that will need to be excavated.
Analysis is still underway, but
it is likely that builders will
need to take additional steps to
be sure the foundation meets
current seismic and tsunami
standards.
“The take-home message
“My hope and belief
is that it will come from
the state of Washington,”
Borchard said, when asked
where the additional money
would come from. She
pointed out that the esti-
mated budget was devel-
oped several years ago, so it
was inevitable that real costs
would rise somewhat by the
time construction actually
started.
In Borchard’s opinion,
the state should be doing all
it can to protect schoolchil-
dren against a known hazard.
“I believe morally, we are
obligated to keep those chil-
dren safe,” Borchard said.
Regardless
of
the
increased cost, Borchard
said she believed the proj-
ect is making good progress,
and is worth the expense,
because it provides a lot of
potential benefit for the cost.
Based on the conservative
850-person capacity esti-
mate, the total cost would
work out to about $4,000 to
$5,000 per person. Borchard
pointed out that at that rate,
the cost of protecting a cit-
izen from a tsunami is less
than the cost of many pretty
basic hospital procedures.
“What a slammin’ deal
it is to save 850 lives,”
Borchard said.
Albacore in abundance this time of year for Ilwaco anglers
Into the blue
Trip produces
bounty of ish
By LUKE WHITTAKER
EO Media Group
ILWACO, Wash. — Tuna
season is in full swing, with
local fishermen report-
ing high numbers and big-
ger-than-average albacore.
Ilwaco-based Shake N
Bake fishing charter pro-
vided an inside look this
month at what some con-
sider the best fishing world-
wide during a tuna trip for
five first-time albacore fish-
ermen. In less than three
hours, more than 50 tuna
were caught.
It was a successful trip
in what’s considered one of
the most productive fisher-
ies on the West Coast, where
“plugging the boat,” or fill-
ing the hold to the top with
tuna, has become routine.
“The fish are aggressive
and there are a lot of them,”
said Aaron Walker, owner of
F/V Opportunity. “There’s
hardly a fishery that com-
pares to this type of action,
fight and food quality. This
is Tuna Town USA.”
Eleven miles west of the
mouth of the Columbia River,
the Astoria Canyon emerges
underneath. The 75-mile long
canyon begins at around 330
feet deep, before dropping into
an abyss beyond 6,000 feet.
The canyon is an epicenter of
scientiic research, but also a
highway for migrating alba-
core tuna.
North Paciic albacore
begin an expansive annual
migration in the spring and
early summer in waters off
Japan, continuing throughout
the late summer into inshore
waters off the U.S. Paciic
Coast, ending late in the year
(late fall and winter) in the
western Paciic Ocean, accord-
ing to the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administra-
tion’s Southwest Fisheries Sci-
ence Center.
Oceanic
conditions
strongly inluence both the
timing and geographical extent
of the albacore’s migration in
a given year. The vast major-
ity of albacore are caught in
waters with sea-surface tem-
peratures that range from 15
to 19.5 degrees C (59 to 67
degrees F). The migrating ish
are typically bounded by these
thermal gradients as they con-
duct their round-trip travel
across the Paciic Ocean,
according to NOAA.
Thirty-ive miles offshore,
ingers of warmer southern
currents shimmer in hues of
blue. It’s within these slightly
warmer surface waters that
albacore can be found in an
abundance. While passing
along the Washington and Ore-
gon coast, they feed primar-
ily on mackerel and northern
anchovy.
and replaced with lines baited
with a live anchovy.
“Fresh one!” yelled deck-
hand Clark Von Essen, signal-
ing the irst hookup of the day.
Nearly
simultaneously,
each of the half-dozen rods
slumped and shook violently
against the strain of a newly
hooked albacore. Diving and
making repeated runs, each
albacore took a minimum of
10 minutes to reel in. Sev-
eral took nearly 20 minutes or
more before being gaffed and
pulled overboard.
Once aboard, the tuna were
bled on deck and then stacked
in the hold. After a little over
three hours of ishing, the ves-
sel was “plugged,” a term
reserved for when there’s no
longer any room in the hold.
In total, more than 50
tuna were caught; 42 were
kept for the trip home and
another eight were caught and
released.
“We are having some
canned, some smoked and
some for sushi,” said Jill
Cleary following the trip,
adding that they looked for-
ward to sharing the catch
with friends, family and
neighbors.
FAMILY OWNED & OPERATED
Finding the ish
Jigs are trolled until a
school is located and the irst
hookup occurs. A screaming
drag from the irst albacore on
a reel often serves as the alarm.
Once the irst tuna is hooked,
the remaining jigs are reeled in
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