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Do Seattlites worry about rising ocean tides?

heavy scissorsheavy scissors
edited January 2008 in Seattle Real Estate
I'm moving to the area for good sometime this year. We have small kids and plan to keep our house until they're grown and gone. So, I'm wondering if I should hesitate to buy anything near water (!) for fear of global warming floods. Is this an issue people worry about in Washington state?

Comments

  • redmondjpredmondjp
    Well, rising oceans should not be on your radar with regard to buying a house along the water and I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

    The next major earthquake, however, is a different story. I've watched all of the TV specials over the past ten years on PNW earthquakes, and the last 'big one' occurred in 1700 and affected the coast from Northern CA all the way up to Canada (causing tidal waves in Japan). Land in some places dropped 10-20 feet--where this happened on the water's edge, well, your three-story view house could become a one-story with a two-level deep-water pool (RE ad: scuba dive in your own basement)!

    My own take is that over the long term, you're better off one block from the water, as eventually you will be at water's edge. :lol:
  • rose-colored-coolaidrose-colored-coolaid
    Agreed. And don't forget volcanoes either. We've had some very damaging eruptions in the past, but most of them predate "modern PNW history". In other words, they occurred prior to 1850.

    We know St. Helens is active. But Rainier could also be disastrous if it blew. Supposedly, a large portion of the south king county landscape was formed by an eruption about 500 years ago. I heard the hot mud flow went all the way up to Lake Washington.

    So, if you want to worry about something, focus on things which would be relatively sudden and definitely deadly. Don't even fret with global warming raising sea levels 1/2" a year.
  • AlanAlan
    Seismic activity could also trigger a tsunami. I saw a show years ago positing the cooccurence of a volcano eruption and tsunami hitting Seattle. I swore at that time that I would never live here.
  • TJ_98370TJ_98370
    Sasquatch and spiders. Barking spiders. I worry about sasquatch and barking spiders. They're everywhere in Washington!
  • TJ_98370TJ_98370
    Actually, when global warming really kicks in, western Washington will be the new SoCal. Watch what happens to property values then!
  • redmondjpredmondjp
    TJ_98370 wrote:
    Sasquatch and spiders. Barking spiders. I worry about sasquatch and barking spiders. They're everywhere in Washington!
    You joke, but we do have some very dangerous spiders in the Puget Sound area--the Hobo spider (thought to have arrived here in Seattle on a trading ship 100-120 years ago and their area has been expanding out from Seattle ever since). I caught one INSIDE my dining room last August (live, inside a glass jar) and positively identified it. Google them for more information. You don't want to get a venomous bite from one of these.

    We also have the 'mock' black widow which looks like a real one but lacks the red hourglass on the underside of the body, as well as the poisonous bite. I grew up in Eastern WA where we had the real thing and it always creeps me out when I see one of the mock ones--in fact I was cleaning up in our R&D lab at work tonight and I found a very live one!
  • SeattleMooseSeattleMoose
    What I wonder about is the possible effect even a 3 to 6 inch rise in sea level would do to the water table under our waterfront, viaduct, etc. How much of a rise in sea level would equate to enough liquefaction to undermine the stability of our waterfront downtown (e.g. building foundations)?

    Does anyone (structural engineers) know if current building standards have to account for a change in water table due to a potential rise in sea level?
  • perfectfireperfectfire
    Mount St. Helens isn't just active, it's currently erupting and has been since 2004.
  • Rhonda PRhonda P
    heavy scissors, if you're worried about living on or near the water, then I probably wouldn't make that move if I were you. It also depends what type of water you're talking about...I'm assuming Sound? I live in West Seattle and year after year, our storms are getting stronger and more wild.
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