Two Years after the Tsunami in Crescent City

The Tall Ships, Hawaiian Chieftain and The Lady Washington come most years to visit our harbor, but had to pass us by two years ago this month when the harbor was destroyed by the same Tsunami that devastated Japan. Last year and this they get to return because some repairs have been done, but the progress is very slow. 

 Before the Tsunami, the harbor was a thriving, busy place filled with boats taking turns in the various seasons with trying their luck for the dungeness crab and the prawns and tuna hauls that kept the fishing community afloat, both literally and financially.

This is a picture I took of my TV screen when they were showing how the water from the harbor was being sucked out of the harbor and then came flooding back in 10 minute cycles

This blog has previous posts about tsunamis in Crescent City

http://echo-echosvoice.blogspot.com/2013/02/one-year-after-tsunami-we-shared-with.html

http://echo-echosvoice.blogspot.com/2011/10/crescent-city-still-dredging-out.html

http://echo-echosvoice.blogspot.com/2011/03/tsunamis-do-more-than-wave-at-crescent.html

 This is the boat my son, in high school when the tsunami hit, now works on as a crabber, but even though it still is listed as being out of Crescent City, It has to dock elsewhere except for loading and unloading as there are not enough places to tie up the fleet now, so as the season winds down my son is heading south from Eureka to Bodega Bay.

boxes filled with crab are unloaded

 Here is the edge of the harbor parking lot as crab season finishes up and the pots come in to be stored and repaired

Many rocks are piling up as the silt and rocks in the harbor are removed to try and make the boat basin deeper and more usable

This barge and crane are in the same corner today that Is shown in that screen shot from the TV news above with the docks sitting on the mud

 nets spread in the parking lot with floats attached

 pipes waiting installation to replace the old, damaged concrete ones

 The rectangles are docks which were damaged and need replaced in the water once the heavy machinery finally leaves

Last year the family of Dustin Weber, the young man who was swept to sea here and recovered 400 miles north when his body washed up in Washington, had his ashes returned as his family completed the walk between those two location.

http://www.triplicate.com/News/Local-News/Tribute-trek-concludes-Not-forgotten

  I haven't seen anything in the local news this year mentioning the anniversary, just the reminders that work is ongoing and repairs are not expected to be completed until at least 2014. Still, life goes on, and the wreckage transforms again into a working harbor.

One Year after the Tsunami, we shared with Japan

 Most everyone knows that the Tsunami was major and that the impact of it upon Japan is inconceivable on so many levels.  Our Small, Northern California and Southern Oregon harbors had a bit more than sympathy pains for our Japanese brothers and sisters.

Starting between 7 and 8 AM, we began to experience our own Tsunami, and the waves cycled through the commercial boat harbor, destroying boats and docks and peoples incomes, but most devastatingly of all, Pulling two people into the sea, in Southern Oregon at Pistol River (They managed to get ashore) and destroying the life of one young man who was pulled out to sea in Northern California, but who's body was found long weeks later in Washington.

 His Father, Jon Weber, is hiking the route from where his son's body was found, to here where his son was pulled into the sea, that story in the Del Norte Triplicate at

http://www.triplicate.com/News/Local-News/Trek-makes-good-progress

There were several crabbing and fishing boats left shattered on the harbor floor, so this big crane was bright in to help raise the broken boats from the harbor.  

This is a picture I took of my TV screen when they were showing how the water from the harbor was being sucked out of the harbor and then came flooding back in in 10 minute cycles

My Aunt sent me this paper with our hometown on the front page news, from her home near Pittsburgh PA

Although surviving the Tsunami is not a free card other, this sailboat survived the big tsunami, only to lie broken on the rocks in the spring rains and flooding of January 2011

 This smaller crane was here just last month to help fix the channel markers which were broken and moved and have caused a headache for boats coming in and out ever sine

 This dredge loaded up barge after barge of the silt which had been deposited in the harbor and filled the boat basin during the tsunami

Crescent City won one of the $10, 000 prizes from Reader's Digest in the We Hear You America Contest to help with the rebuilding, but as the Curry Coastal Pilot said

"Visitors to Crescent City Harbor this week will find a port that is a shadow of its former self, the surviving boats in the fleet crowding around a handful of new docks. 

Emergency funds to repair and replace docks and other facilities have been hindered by state and federal bureaucracy. Crescent City’s port was one of three California ports to be damaged by the tsunami, while Brookings’ port was the only one in Oregon.

Still, the work completed so far is impressive: the removal of 61 pilings, the dredging of 83 barge-loads of silt deposited by the tsunami, and the repair of about 500 feet of protective rock slope, all at a cost of around $5.1 million. 

“It’s been kind of a remarkable year for what we have accomplished since the tsunami,” Young said. "

To see that whole story go to

http://www.currypilot.com/News/Breaking-News/Tsunami-one-year-later