National Weather Service issues Coastal Flood Advisory for Seattle

March 9, 2016 by Leave a Comment

The high tide I referenced in last night’s “barking dog” report has been bumped up to an estimated 14.3 feet at 5:38 am on Thursday morning. This coincides with gusts that are predicted from Wind Alert to have gusts up to 50 mph.

From the Coastal Flooding Advisory, issued at 3:12 am:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A COASTAL
FLOOD ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM PST
THURSDAY.

* COASTAL FLOODING...MINOR TIDAL OVERFLOW IS LIKELY AROUND THE
  TIME OF HIGH TIDE TONIGHT.

HIGH ASTRONOMICAL TIDES...AUGMENTED BY UNUSUALLY LOW ATMOSPHERIC
PRESSURE...WILL LIKELY FLOOD VERY LOW LYING COASTAL AREAS.
FLOODING IS EXPECTED TO BE MINOR AND ONLY LAST A FEW HOURS AROUND
THE TIME OF HIGH TIDE.

THE TABLE BELOW GIVES TIME AND HEIGHT OF PREDICTED TIDES...THE
PREDICTED TIDAL ANOMALY DUE TO LOW PRESSURE AND OTHER FACTORS...
AND THE SUM OF THE PREDICTED TIDE AND THE PREDICTED ANOMALY.


STATION NAME: SEATTLE
DAY     TIME         PRED      ANOMALY     PRED + ANOMALY
THU     05:38 AM     12.44     ~ 1.9               14.3

Based on these predictions, we are pulling out our pumps today just in case we flood early tomorrow morning. It may be a good idea to check on your waterfront neighbors to make sure they’re aware of the potential flooding.

There is also a Small Craft Advisory in effect through Thursday afternoon.

Filed Under: Puget Sound, Safety, Tides, Weather Tagged With: ,

Sewer Line Leak off the shores of Beach Drive

January 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment

There was a sewer line leak reported two days ago at the pump station located near Constellation Park (also referred to by neighbors as “Constipation Park”). It is unknown the amount of sewage that was released into Puget Sound.

From King County:

King County utility crews are working quickly this morning to repair a sewer line leak near the 63rd Avenue Pump Station, which is located at 3535 Beach Drive S.W. in Seattle.

The small leak was detected last night in a 42-inch pipeline that pumps wastewater from homes and businesses in West Seattle to King County’s West Point Treatment Plant in the Magnolia neighborhood.

An undetermined amount of wastewater overflowed out of the pipe and into Puget Sound. To protect public health and safety, crews quickly initiated cleanup and posted warning signs to keep people away from affected areas.

Construction workers will be on site this morning to repair the pipeline.

King County reported the overflow to health and regulatory agencies and will monitor water quality over the next several days.

 

 

Filed Under: Puget Sound, Safety

King Tide

December 18, 2015 by 1 Comment

We have a high tide of 12.5 minutes away at 10:14 am this morning. There is a small craft advisory in effect until this evening with waves of 2 to 4 feet.

Our intrepid reporter, Scupper is on the scene at Mee Kwa Mooks and has just shared this video of the tides washing over the walkway.

Filed Under: Puget Sound, Tides Tagged With:

USS John C. Stennis returning home

November 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment

CV 74
We just spied the USS John C. Stennis returning to her home port of Bremerton.

While doing a little research, I found this CNN documentary about the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) that I’d thought I’d share.

Filed Under: Puget Sound Tagged With:

Do you recall the sinking of The Dix? Check out this video.

November 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment

One of our readers shared this video with us of the sinking of passenger ship, The Dix.  Thanks, Mark!

HISTORY: A Night to Remember from Avenue Collection on Vimeo.

Filed Under: Film, Puget Sound

Orcas seen off of Beach Drive

November 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment

What a treat to be able to watch Orcas from your back yard! I don’t recall ever seeing them this close to the shore.

orcas nov 10 2015 a
orcas Nov 10 2015
It was a real show stopper this afternoon at Emma Schmitz View Point as cars and people lined Beach Drive to catch a view of the whales.
DSC_0047

Filed Under: Puget Sound, Wildlife Tagged With: ,

Killers chasing chum off of Beach Drive

November 5, 2015 by 2 Comments

Several onlookers lined the sidewalk along Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook watching a nearby Orca pod. The whales have been spotted all over the area for the last couple of days according to West Seattle Blog reports. The Orca are most likely chasing the large fall chum salmon run which contains nearly 90% of the entire annual chum numbers that migrate down to central & south Puget Sound.

IMG_5269

It was also reported that The Whale Trail organization has spotted other aquatic species in the area as well.

 

IMG_5271

Well, maybe not ALL of them…

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

 

Filed Under: Just for fun, Parks, Puget Sound, Wildlife

C’mon baby douse my fire

October 28, 2015 by 5 Comments

Another type of vessel has been taking a spin on the popular Beach Drive test track. Joining Delta Marine and the WA State Ferries is a brand spanking new 108′ fire boat built by Foss Maritime & bound for the Port of Long Beach California. The super pumper named “Fire Boat 20” tested forward & reverse for most of the day along the drive this morning.

According to Pacific Maritime Magazine…

The Long Beach pair each carry four Caterpillar 3512-C main engines, producing a total of more than 8,000 HP. Two engines are dedicated for pumping only, while two do double duty – propulsion and simultaneously adding more pumping power for a total of over 40,000 gpm. A pair of Cat C12 150-kW gensets provides the boats’ electric power. The largest monitor will be capable of delivering 12,000 gpm at a 600-foot range. The other nine monitors range from 1,500 to 6,000 gpm. Top speed is 12 knots – sufficient for a compact port like Long Beach. The low-wash speed is eight knots and on-site endurance is five days.

3_Pilots_3

Being one of the most technically advanced emergency boats in the world, it even has systems that protects the firefighters from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. I looked into buying one to protect Beach Drive but couldn’t negotiate them down from the 25+ mil price tag!

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

Filed Under: Boats, Puget Sound

Bottom line: Plug your nose & talk to the State

September 30, 2015 by 4 Comments

In our continuing coverage regarding the foul Beach Drive bouquet, A small community meeting with representatives from King County Waste Water just adjourned from the sidewalk of 4700 Beach Drive SW. Armed with a color 4 page report regarding the soundness of their sewer, King County says it wasn’t them!

2015-09-30 16.13.00

 

Four leakage sensors were setup inside man-holes along the circa 1957 main line that runs along the drive…

2015-09-30_1715

 

With no solid evidence supporting sewage runoff as our culprit, the meeting turned into a “now what” conversation. An ecologist from the county recommended that neighbors start a permit process asap with Washington Fish & Wildlife for dealing with the next round of rotting sea lettuce. The permits apparently last five years. If  NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is correct, we could be literally blown out of our houses next summer! An article issued by King 5 back in July reported NOAA’s prediction for Seattle’s chances of continued warming…

SEATTLE – There’s a 90 percent chance El Nino will continue through this coming winter and an 80 percent chance it will extend to early spring 2016, the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center reported Thursday.

The stench has been no stranger to the Fauntleroy Cove area where residents took action to remove the seaweed. The Seattle Times reported…

When the problem last emerged in 1990, state officials attacked it by corralling the seaweed in nets and hauling it out into the sound, where it was dumped. They did this for three years at a cost of about $10,000 a year, then stopped. The problem abated until this summer, when average temperatures were three to four degrees above normal and the Puget Sound area saw more sunshine than usual.

A few residents present at the meeting showed interest in moving forward to find a solution. Maybe consulting with other neighborhoods that have or are currently dealing with this issue would be a good start. We did learn that Dumas Bay click here for their study & Shilshole Pt. were also plugging their collective noses and working on solutions.

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

 

 

Filed Under: Beach Drive Homes, In the News, Puget Sound

New stink to an old story?

September 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment

EDITORS NOTE: Please scroll to the bottom of this post for an update.

Some new controversy is brewing in regard to the rotten egg-like stench we reported along parts of Beach Drive SW.  A neighbor in the 4600 block reportedly complained about the gaseous smell to a King County Wastewater representative and was told that the cause could possibly be related to a recent CSO (combined sewage overflow). At first flush, I would think they are referring to heavy rains we experienced on August 29th which pushed our monthly total far beyond the average.

seattle2015rain
Another concerned neighbor and I caught up with a KC Waste Water truck hanging out this morning at the base of Jacobson Street. The gentleman in the truck explained that he was tasked with installing sophisticated sensors at different points along the sewer line that would indicate any accidental sewage leaks. He went on to say that most complaints of the odor have been located between around LaRustica Restaurant and about the 5000 block of Beach Drive. Also checked out were the City of Seattle lines that run down Jacobson to the main county line. Where the two lines intersect create what’s called  the SW Alaska Street Seattle Combined Outfall which dumps out into the sound when the Alki overflow treatment plant becomes overwhelmed.

AlaskaCSOphoto1

 

Incidentally, this particular outflow rarely overflows according to report studies (.1% yearly 1987-2007) however it is not uncommon to have some leaky-poos just north at the 63rd St & Alki outflows.

AlkiUntreatedCSO

63rdCSOphoto

The CSO Status website used by recreational divers and beachcombers has been experiencing technical difficulties and is not showing any real time data for the outflow stations in the immediate area.

King County West Point Treatment is encouraging all residents along the drive to report any stink zones with the exact time they occur. This will go along ways to get to the messy bottom of the mystery. 24 hour odor hotline 206-263-3801

A meeting had been setup between representatives of King County Waste Water Treatment, concerned homeowners and local media for this Friday but has been temporarily postponed.

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

 

UPDATE September 25, 2015: We received this email from a local resident:

Hi. Thought I would pass along some information about my morning’s experience regarding the odor on Beach Drive.

Last night when the odor intensified, I called the hotline you posted on the Blog (thanks for that information).  This morning around 11:30 a King County representative came to measure the levels of hydrogen sulfide, the likely gas causing the odor.  The couple of manholes out in front of the house had a zero reading for hydrogen sulfide.  At our deck, water side, the reading was .02.  At the bulk head, the reading was .14.  The rep said this was definitely abnormal and KC continues to be perplexed as to the cause but is actively investigating. 

He expected some public announcement next week on the status of the investigation.

Thanks again for the information on the Blog.  Helps to inform and connect us all.

Filed Under: Alki, In the News, Puget Sound
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