Recent storms accompanied by gale-force winds pushing exceptionally high waves have battered Washaway Beach and North Cove fronting Willapa Bay near Tokeland, biting off yet more huge chunks of land. As a result, the Seamobile neighborhood, once a thriving community with more than a dozen streets running parallel to Willapa Bay, has few residences and vacation properties left, and they are all close to going over the side.
Current hot spot
In addition, properties along the Pacific shoreline just north of the mouth of the bay are again seeing a major upswing in erosion activity this fall.
The erosion zone stretches from land that fronts the Shoalwater Bay Reservation south of Jacobson’s Jetty on Willapa Bay to several hundred yards north of Whipple Avenue along the Pacific shoreline. The current most active erosion zone is between the north-to-south running remnant of Spruce Street north to beyond the east-to-west-running Blue Pacific Drive.
On Oct. 25, a mobile home near the foot of what remains of Ash Street went over the side, followed by a vacation cabin south of Blue Pacific Drive on Nov. 6.
With the fall storm season upon us and winter’s expected even greater storm activity on the horizon, odds are that major erosion in that area will continue, with a number of permanent and vacation residences expected to fall victim to Mother Nature’s wrath by spring.
Only time and tides will tell if that prediction comes to pass.
Century-old problem
The severe erosion problem along Willapa Bay’s north shore and on up the Pacific coastline is not a new one. Plagued by erosion for more than 100 years, the deep and swift channel close to the northern Willapa Harbor shoreline scours away the land at an alarming rate, taking with it miles of what was once farmland, the site of a Coast Guard Station and lighthouse, a Grange Hall, a clam cannery, a school and entire residential districts.
Today, more than 200 properties on the Pacific County tax rolls in that area are under water at high tide. The problem is so acute, the County has prohibited any new construction for more than a dozen years.
No longer seasonal
Until five years ago, the erosion process has been predictable in North Cove — it’s going to happen every winter and sometimes in other seasons, as well. The big variable is the rate at which real estate drops over the side. Some winters, when the area has been blessed with milder weather, erosion has been minimal. Other foul-weather seasons have seen 200-300 feet of shoreline eaten away with alarming rapidity. The average over the last century is more 100 feet per year.
During the early 1900s, Cape Shoalwater, a massive spit, began eroding rapidly. Between 1890 and 1965, the cape eroded 12,303 feet at about 124 feet per year.
Now year-round
But the process changed drastically starting in the spring of 2009. Major erosion in North Cove kicked into high gear that season and has continued at a rapid pace since, regardless of the season or the weather. In the last six months of 2009, Warrenton Cannery Road, once a popular beach approach for vehicles, lost approximately 640 feet. Since then, erosion has continued along that stretch at an alarming rate, with an estimated more than 900 feet of additional oceanfront gone … and the hits just keep on coming.
Jacobson’s Jetty
Various methods have been tried, none successfully, to stop the erosive process, including repairs to the highway, including rip rap and a rock/log revetment.
In 1999, a 1600-foot rock groin and a 930-foot underwater dike at its tip were built in near the relocated Pioneer Cemetery where State Route 105 runs precariously close to the water’s edge.
Locally referred to as Jacobson’s Jetty in honor of early area pioneers by that name, the groin is not considered a success at this point in time. It does appear to be working to help hold the highway to a certain extent and slows erosion to the north for several hundred yards.
That hasn’t helped the residents of the Seamobile neighborhood or farther up the beach, however.
Engineers estimate that if the groin were longer, its effect would be even greater farther up the coastline, but financial limitations keep it at its current length.
New armor rock
Each year, more large armor rock is hauled to the site to shore up the base of the jetty, along the eastern bank of the nearby creek to the north that flows into Willapa Bay and adjacent to the highway east of the groin’s tip.
In late October, the state Department of Transportation contracted for additional armor rock to be placed alongside the roadway a few hundred yards south of the North Cove Pioneer Cemetery, to prevent SR105 erosion. The highway is the only link from the South Beach to the Tokeland area and beyond around Willapa Bay to Raymond and points south.
Caution and courtesy
Visitors to the area who would like a close look at the erosive action along Washaway Beach and in North Cove are cautioned to respect road barriers and No Trespassing signs in the neighborhood. You will be visiting an extremely unstable area where folks still live and you are expected to respect their property rights.
