Sand Trapped in Waldport, Oregon
Harsh winter winds this past weekend nearly buried some ocean front homes in Waldport, Oregon.
Residents are shoveling out after a windstorm buried their homes in sand. The high winds left sand piled up to the roof level of some homes.
"You could barely sleep it was so loud," said resident Bob Bailey, who was in one of the homes as the storm hit. "You could just hear the sand pounding against the windows and roof it was pretty loud."
(photo by my mother)
In the period of one night, sand moved in and buried homes. Drifts as high as thirty feet were formed. This, we had to go see. So, for my birthday outing, we packed up the car with all the dogs, and headed to Waldport.
The site was amazing. Home after home was partially buried in wet sand with drifts piled high like you'd find after a Minnesota snow storm.
One resident I spoke to seems rather distraught over the sandstorm drifts. He blamed his neighbors for the sand piled against his house. He claims the neighbors didn't maintenance their own dune properly.
I wanted to tell him that sand will naturally drift and go where it wants to go, and that he needed to blame no one but Mother-Nature...and the location of his house, but I refrained from the obvious, for I didn't think it would have helped.
(photo by my mother)
Further down the street, I came across a women who was spraying the caked sand off the side of her house. She seemed more positive about the situation at hand.
"I've lived here sixteen years, and every year we have to dig our homes out," the lady said while brushing the loose hair out of her face with the back of her hand.
"It's the price we pay for living on a sand dune with an ocean front view." I agreed. She smiled.
After she gave me the grand tour of the outside of her buried home, she said, "I don't really see what all the 'hoopla' is though? It must have been a slow news days...cause this happens all the time."
Fortunately for the sand spit dwellers, the city of Waldport provides heavy equipment to assist in removing the unwanted sand drifts. Even the assistant comes with a price.
(photo by my mother)
It's not just the ocean view that costs...rumor has it, the price of sand removal can cost each resident an average of $3K a storm.
(photo by my mother)
This house had three feet of sand piled against the garage door. The yard was gone, or buried, much like every yard on the ocean side of the street.
Despite a few of the north spit dweller's nonchalant approach to the mess at hand, my mother and I thought the sand drifts forming over night, and burying homes, and building sand hills thirty feet high in places, was news worthy whether is being the first time or a reoccurring event.
It was my first time to see such a mess...and I am glad we made the trek. And, I am glad it is there mess, no matter what the view might be.
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