MUKILTEO — On Oct. 28, 2003, a perfect storm — high tides combined with high winds and waves — conspired to blow out windows at Ivar’s waterfront restaurant and send diners scurrying.
The floor buckled and most of the deck was washed away. The Mukilteo eatery had to close for more than a year to repair the damage.
The first of eight windows exploded as the manager was ushering the last of his customers out of the restaurant just before 5 p.m. About 45 minutes later, the tide reached a high for the day of more than 11 feet.
Tides are forecast to be even higher this Jan. 23-25 and Feb. 22-23, reaching as high as 13 feet in Everett.
High tides are not usually dangerous unless they coincide with a storm as they did that day in 2003, said Curt Hart, a spokesman for the state Department of Ecology.
They can, however, provide an indicator of what rising sea levels could be like in the future because of climate change, he said.
The coming high tides mimic a projected 6-inch rise in Puget Sound-area waters by 2050, Hart said. The estimate was derived from several studies by state Department of Ecology staff and from its work with the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group, he said. The UW organization is considered the premier local authority on the subject, Hart said.
The two organizations have put together a report titled “Sea Level Rise in the Coastal Waters of Washington State.”
The rise in water levels will be less noticeable or even canceled out on the northern Washington coast because geological changes there are causing the coastline to rise, according to the report.
More information is available at the Department of Ecology’s on-line Coastal Atlas site, www.tinyurl.com/coastalatlas.
A permanent 6-inch rise in water levels spells trouble for developed areas, according to the ecology department. Structures, roads, utilities and parks would be threatened by erosion, breaches and flooding during high tides and major storms. Coastal freshwater aquifers also could be threatened.
It also could have a big effect on the economy as well, officials say.
At Ivar’s, employees who were there during the ’03 event still get a little nervous when tides get high, manager Greg Covey said. Another storm in November 2008, also during a high tide, buckled panels on the restaurant’s waterfront deck.
Employees don’t do a lot of preparation for high tides other than putting sandbags around the doors to the deck, Covey said.
“I think with the reconstruction and the amount of time that went into it we feel pretty secure in our building,” Covey said. “Unfortunately there’s not a lot we can do. We’re at the mercy of the weather.”
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
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