3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2017
Long Beach abandons plan for
$4M tsunami shelter project
New reports say
much taller berm
would be needed
By AMY NILE
EO Media Group
LONG BEACH, Wash. —
The city is halting work on
what would have been the first
tsunami shelter of its kind in
North America.
New scientific reports and
preliminary findings of a study
foiled the city’s plan to build
a 32-foot-tall cement berm
behind Long Beach Elemen-
tary School.
The city last month received
the early findings of a study
that indicates the berm would
need to be built 62.4 feet above
average high tide to keep peo-
ple safe during a worst-case
tsunami. That’s a considerable
increase from the 48-foot stan-
dard the city had been using
to design the shelter meant to
keep about 800 people safe.
“It’s not feasible to build a
berm that high,” Community
Development Director Ariel
Smith said. “It’d basically sink
into the ground.”
The project, which was
two-thirds of the way through
the design pro-
cess, has cost
$449,500 so
far, she said.
The city spent
at least $56,000
of its money on Ariel Smith
the project. The
Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency and the Washing-
ton State Military Emergency
Management Division picked
up the rest of the tab.
The City Council did not
include any money for the
project in the 2018 budget,
Long Beach Administrator
David Glasson said.
Delays
The city delayed the project
after an engineer with the Amer-
ican Society of Civil Engineers
reached out in late 2016 to let
Long Beach leaders know new
research was coming out this
year that would likely change
the standards for building shel-
ters for a worst-case tsunami.
However, scientists and
engineers with the national
society and the state disagreed
on the new findings, Glasson
said. Some suggested the city
would need to build a 50-foot-
tall berm to keep people safe.
“We had experts upon
experts upon experts arguing
Oregon’s high school
grad rate remains
third-worst in nation
Associated Press
PORTLAND — New fig-
ures show Oregon once again
has the third-worst high school
graduation rate in the country.
The Oregonian reported
the National Center for Educa-
tion Statistics says Oregon, for
the second straight year, ranks
48th in the nation in students
graduating from high school.
Oregon ranked No. 47 for
two years before that, but sank
Oregon
sends aid
to battle
California
wildfires
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Ten strike
teams from all over the state
and 15 Red Cross disaster
relief responders are on their
way to help battle several
massive blazes and provide
relief north of Los Angeles.
Some of the Red Cross
responders are from Astoria.
Responders from Ore-
gon and southwest Washing-
ton will work in disaster relief
shelters and deliver medi-
cal aid to those staying in the
shelters. Additional deploy-
ments are expected in the next
few days.
The largest and most
destructive of the fires, an
85-square-mile wildfire in
Ventura County northwest
of Los Angeles, had nearly
reached the Pacific on Tues-
day night after starting 30
miles inland a day earlier.
The fires have burned more
80,000 acres. Nearly 200,000
people have been told to evac-
uate their homes and more
than 430 of them spent Tues-
day night at seven Red Cross
shelters
Strikes teams from Oregon
will come from Lane, Mult-
nomah, Washington, Linn,
Marion, Clackamas, Klamath
and Yamhill counties. A com-
bined team from Polk, Linn,
and Benton counties and a
team from the Rogue Valley
area are also en route.
State fire officials say five
more strike teams will be dis-
patched later today. The Ore-
gon Fire Marshal said it is
also sending heavy equipment
to help.
a notch when Alaska raised its
success rate.
The only states with lower
rates than Oregon are Nevada
and New Mexico.
The new rates are for the
Class of 2016. Oregon got
74.8 percent of students in its
Class of 2016 to earn diplomas
within four years of starting
high school.
Oregon plans to release
graduation rates for the Class
of 2017 in late January.
‘It’s not
feasible to
build a berm
that high.
It’d basically
sink into the
ground.’
Ariel Smith
among themselves,” Glasson
said.
So the city asked research-
ers at the University of Wash-
ington for help. The research-
ers agreed and didn’t charge
the city for the study.
Long Beach was also
able to use the donation of
the study as its match for the
design grant, Glasson said.
The city estimated the
berm would cost about $4
million to design and con-
struct. Long Beach had been
approved for another fed-
eral grant of $1.5 million and
$250,000 from the state to
help pay for it. But if the city
wanted to build a taller berm,
they’d have to start over,
Glasson said.
“You can look at it as for-
tunate or unfortunate,” he said.
On one hand, the berm could
have saved lives. On the other,
Glasson said, building it might
have given people a false sense
of security if it wasn’t adequate
for a worst-case tsunami.
Back at square one
City and Pacific County
officials say dozens of evacua-
tion sites are needed to provide
enough tsunami shelters for the
county’s year-round population
of about 20,500 and its swell of
seasonal residents and tourists.
Glasson and County Emer-
gency Management Direc-
tor Scott McDougall estimate
it would take about 30 berms,
towers and buildings to keep
people out of harm’s way.
Without a tsunami evacu-
ation shelter, the best people
can do is get to high ground
quickly after an earthquake.
Glasson said once the shak-
ing stops, peninsula residents
should have about 25 minutes
before the towering waves and
flooding water comes.
Experts and emergency
managers say most people sur-
vive tsunamis. But those who
live on the peninsula should be
ready to fend for themselves
for weeks in the aftermath of a
disaster while waiting for help
to arrive.
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Zinke proposal recommends
shrinking Cascade-Siskiyou
By JES BURNS
Oregon Public
Broadcasting
Interior Secretary Ryan
Zinke is calling for one of the
Northwest’s national monu-
ments to be reduced in size.
Zinke released a months-
old report Tuesday making
recommendations to Presi-
dent Donald Trump on the
fate of national monuments
that previous presidents had
established or expanded.
Among the recommenda-
tions: that the president roll
back at least part of the expan-
sion of the Cascade-Siskiyou
National monument.
At the beginning of
the year, President Barack
Obama nearly doubled the
size of the Cascade-Siski-
you monument, adding about
48,000 acres. It now cov-
ers 113,000 acres, stretching
from southern Oregon into
Northern California.
Zinke made no specific
recommendations
about
shifting boundaries for Cas-
cade-Siskiyou. But the report
said the boundaries need to
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Obama’s
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included about 40,000 acres
of so-called “O&C Lands” —
named for the defunct Oregon
& California Railroad which
held forest lands that fell into
public ownership early in the
20th century. Several Oregon
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expansion violates their legal
right to continue collecting
revenues through the logging
of those O&C lands.
The head of a timber
industry lobbying group
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saying it will help restore trust
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“We thank Secretary
Zinke and Interior staff for
taking a closer look at this
expansion and we urge Pres-
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American Forest Resource
Council in a prepared
statement.
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