Winter storms bury Oregon Coast homes in sand
WALDPORT, Ore. – In the Bayshore Community, homes are buried in sand.
Every year, powerful storms pile sand on top of the beachfront homes built in the 1960s.
Roads vanish. Driveways transform into dunes. Front doors disappear behind drifting sand.
Why would anyone build a home there in the first place?
“When it was built, it was absolutely flat and you could see all the way across from the bay to the ocean with no sand dunes,” said Glenn Morris, Chair of the Bayshore Road District. “If this would have been platted within the last 5 years, none of these homes would exist.”
Glenn said over time, sand has come and gone without apparent rhyme or reason - and that’s the problem.
“We had an El Nino year, around 2000, which removed a lot of sand from the area. Subsequent to that, it’s been La Nina, which deposits sand and it’s been depositing it for 12 years now,” said Morris.
PHOTOS: Bayshore sand in a 'bad' year | VIDEO: Last winter in Bayshore
Oregon state planning agencies now require homeowners to put sand removed from their lots back out on the beach.
The question that many homeowners want to know is: Who is responsible for hauling it all away?
“I have posed this question to parks and recreation. If its Oregon’s sand, why don’t they come and get it?” said Bayshore resident Janet Golway.
Golway bought her home in 2006. “In that year, there was very little sand, and that year there was more rain in California than there was in Oregon.”
Bayshore is in an unincorporated part of Lincoln County. The Bayshore Road District is responsible for paving and maintaining the roads, not clearing the sand. “Clearing the roads was never part of the charter,” said Morris.
FEMA recently granted $250,000 to help with the cleanup and sand removal efforts in Bayshore, primarily after the storms in 2012. “It will pay to clean the road one time, clear the sand and place it on the beach in accordance with Oregon state parks rules and regulations,” said Morris. In the next few months, with the FEMA grant, they plan to clear the roadways, put the sand on the beach and plant it and stabilize it with jute mate and stabilize it.
Still, this is not a final solution to the sand. Since this is a one time grant, the Bayshore community will have to come up with a different solution in future years. Morris said the Bayshore homeowner’s association can create a dune management program, but it’s ultimately in their hands. Morris says a dune management program has been successful in other communities, including Astoria and Cannon Beach.
At the beach. sand gets in everything
This entire thing was caused by a GREEDY county building/tax department. I remember when they first started building there...we knew it would be nothng but trouble. Every year, the changing directions of the winds causes different drifting problems...I've seen some of the houses that sand had drifted completely through the houses, windows were broken out. The idiot county employees started this by allowing building, and the even more stupid home owners have continued the process. The biggest wrong is using tax dollars to move sand that will blow right back in, our politicians never learn.
Build your house on sand or in this case near it, Â you can be king of your own sand castle.Â
if you move next to a RR line, expect noise, if by an airport, expect noise, if ON a beach side locastion,,, expect sand... that goes with the territory.. sorry about that,,, but nature does not ask permission to do things..
This is the area I usually stay there. RT @JessieBakerBee Winter storms bury OR Coast homes in sand http://t.co/sruphIkRNo via @katunews
@skynnard Mother Nature gets her way....evidence seen here. :)
@JessieBakerBee Yes and you better not make her mad...a little like an angry redhead. lol
Everytime we drive over the bridge in Waldport, we marvel at those houses in the "Tsunami zone". I guess they have more problems than just Tsunamis.
Common sense says this is not a good place to build. Yes, they may have a super view...when they can see that is. But all in all it is the price of no research, or not thinking.
@Just Lookin it was flat when the houses were built. Did you research what your property looked like 20 years before you bought it? Yeah didn't think so.
@Jeepers @Just Lookin Sport, yes actually I try to look before I leap. House too close to a river that could and does flood...nah. House on a steep hillside that will slide when too much rain hits it...nah.
House on a sand dune that is more than likely to move when the wind blows, or surf is up...nah.
It may have been flat 20 years ago, but in those 20 years has anyone learned anything? "Yeah..didn't think so
Reminds me of the fools that live right on the Sandy River up on Mt. Hood - when that river floods it changes course and takes homes with it. A great view, great fishing and a grand life until it ends for the 'tupid...
Sand is good.
@sortbait  Except when it gets into your sandwich...but can a sandwich be a sandwich without "sand"? Oh, the humanity!
Matthew 7:24-27
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them,
I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house on a rock:Â And
the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and
beat on that house; and it fell not: for it was founded on a rock.
And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not,
shall be likened to a foolish man, which built his house on the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat on that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
You don't have to be a believer to know wisdom when you read it.
My family looked at this area in the '60's. Our conclusion - you gotta be nuts to build on this! Looks like we were right.
If you built the house in the 1960's and didn't have this problem, and are still the owner of the home, I can understand some belly-aching. But if you bought the house in 2006, I would think that you'd have inspectors cautioning you away from the purchase, and would make a conscious decision to not buy a house that pretty much on a giant sand box.
@pdxd Not pretty much sits on a giant sand box, literally sits on a sand box. Ever been there?Â
they shouldn't have built there from the start. houses have no business in the dune area. years back Fish and wildlife planted the invasive species saw grass to "hold" the sand back. Now the weed is everywhere.
"Â Oregon state planning agencies now require homeowners to put sand removed from their lots back out on the beach."
Guess it's the price you pay for beach front properties.Â
While I have enjoyed many weekends at beach front rental properties and I can see the allure of owning one, I would never buy or build anything in a flood/tsunami zone. To each their own though.
@Gleeker Drydock a houseboat
Saw this on the news last night. You have to be kidding me. Tell all these people to go back to California. Anyone who grew up here knows that the Oregon Coast - particularly this part - is one giant shifting sand dune. Give me a break. Nothing you can do at this point. Cut your losses.
My folks used to have a small cabin on the spit at Pacific City. The sand would either try to bury it, or at times there would be a ..20..foot drop off just below the door. The Government NEVER put up a dime to buy the rock (VW sized) that we had dumped in front of it to stop the erosion, or to pay for sand removal. us kids supplied the shovel labor, as it should be. NOT the government or the taxpayers.
Gosh, I'm all broken up about the homeowners who have to deal with reality.
My guess is that they will complain and want someone to pay for their homes when a tsunami wipes them out.
The US has become a nation of whiners who can't take personal responsibility.
And you whine constantly that everyone else whines. You're so different how?
My favorite "white whine"..."why can't we have a casino"....
The view *is* lovely! Until it busts in your ocean-view picture window and fills up your living room, hunh?
I have no sympathy for anyone who builds a home on a sand spit. I do find it annoying that tax dollars are spent bailing these, dare I say, fools out.
@Nobody Isn't that exactly what folks like these are called in the Bible parable? I remember a little jingle in very early Sunday School to that effect.
At least they don't have to mow thier yard.
@2012 Hope and Change  True, but they really need to run fast to catch up with it!
This is unfortunate for those living there. However, complaining about it is like the folks who build their new house next to a dairy farm and then complain about the smell of cowpies! Folks who live there should form a neighborhood association and erect barriers like folks in Texas do for tumbleweeds.
@Patriot1946 It's not allowed in Oregon. We have free-range, organic beach sand!
So does this mean that I can ask the government to come remove the moss from my driveway in Portland?
@oh4FSÂ How about if a tree owned by the city fell on your house would you expect them to pay for the damages?
They know there is a lot of sand and they know there is onshore wind, and yet they can't figure out that wind blows sand? That should take about 1 minute on the beach to figure out. No one should be paying to have their place cleaned except the owners! What's next, complaining about all that nasty water?
If we have a really big earthquake off shore with a tsunami, the sand will be the least of their problems.
I've driven though this several times and it looks so sureal. Looks almost like the end of the world. You would either have to be a sucker to buy a home there or love sand.
Might be a sign that we are building in places we shouldnt? As far as who is responsible to remove it, I hope all you owners have shovels.  If you think you are going to wait for mommy government to come clean your yard, you are out of your mind.Â
I think I prefer the tumbleweeds. At least they don't get into EVERY crack and crevasse.
@WendyTeagarden Unless you sit on one.
Don't ask me how I know that.
@Kushfan @WendyTeagarden Now I'm going to wonder about that all day long.