30' Swell Hits the Washington Coast

Up to 34-foot swells are battering the Washington coast this morning and Emergency officials are asking people to stay back from the surf and residents are preparing for possible flooding. Westport businesses sandbagged their doorways Sunday night. The storm is the first test for the city's new million dollar drain project to improve marina flood events.

A coastal flood warning is in effect for the central Washington coast until 5:00 am Tuesday. The Weather Service says waves along the coast will peak this morning between 29 and 34 feet. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard has closed the Columbia River bar and most other entrances to coastal ports in Washington and Oregon because of dangerously high waves including crossings at Grays Harbor, Wash., Tillamook, Depoe Bay, Yaquina, Umpqua and Coos Bay.

According to the Washington State Department of Ecology, Washaway Beach, Cape Showalter, has experienced the most rapid erosion on the U.S. Pacific coast. It has been eroding an average of 100 feet per year for a century.