Birch Bay berm survives ‘typical’ fall storm

The offshore storm that spun out of the Pacific this past weekend and battered shoreline areas like Birch Bay and Blaine left little in the way of cleanup for Whatcom County crews, according to storm management managers.

John Gargett, emergency management director for the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office, called the storm that hit county shores late Sunday, October 24, and throughout the day Monday, October 25, “a typical fall storm with a little bit higher gusts.” He said countywide there was little cleanup for county crews.

At the peak of this storm’s power outages, Gargett said about 275 households were without power. He said the previous storm caused a lot more outages countywide. That could have actually saved the county this time around, he said, given that those trees that would have fallen had already done so.

Some Birch Bay residents near and along Alderson Road, by The C Shop, may have experienced a brief power outage Monday afternoon and into the evening as crews worked on a power line around dinnertime.

With the now-finished Birch Bay berm facing its first couple of storms of the season, Gargett said the county is pleased by the berm. “It’s been working as advertised,” he said.

Without a king tide during this most recent storm, he said waves would have never breached the berm. “We’ll have to wait for those strong winter storms to test the berm.”

Gargett said high tide was 10.6 feet and well within the berm’s capacity.