Ocean Shores Faces Emergency Proclamation and Boil Water Advisory

Residents of Ocean Shores face a dual crisis under an emergency proclamation following a severe storm and an unrelated boil water advisory, KIRO 7 reported on Sunday.

Ocean waves driven by high tides have pounded the shoreline, erasing between 40 and 50 feet in width over a four-day period.

Water levels dropped by about 15 feet in elevation along Marine View Drive, where waves now crash directly into the backyards of residential properties. Marshall Reed, the lead planner and shoreline administrator for the City of Ocean Shores, detailed the rapid loss of land to KIRO 7.

“We’ve lost in the last four days somewhere between 50 feet, 40, 50 feet somewhere in there in width,” said Marshall Reed.

“And then we’ve lost probably 15 feet in elevation.” Marshall Reed

he said, pointing to the waves crashing into the backyards of homes along Marine View Drive.

City crews are currently dropping large boulders along the shoreline to replace smaller cobble that washed away during the storm surge. Approximately two dozen homes remain threatened by the advancing ocean waters, including property belonging to a resident named Kim.

“It’s coming all the way up. It’s eating away the land; it’s eroding,” Kim told KIRO 7. Affected homeowners are permitting municipal work crews to construct a rock wall directly on their private land to hold back the pounding surf.

Mayor Frank Elduen issued an emergency proclamation on November 9 to free up municipal resources for the rapid deployment of these protective barriers. Reed warned that the city faces an extended battle against winter weather conditions.

“Typically, once we start into the winter storm season, it’s sometime in March before we really take a breath.”

Reed told KIRO 7.

Compounding the storm damage, a construction crew working on an unrelated infrastructure project accidentally broke a municipal water main. Although repair crews have fixed the broken pipe, local residents must continue drinking bottled water or boiling tap water.

City officials expect laboratory test results on the municipal water supply to arrive by late Saturday morning to determine if the system is clean.

“It’s just part of everyday life, living down at the beach. Things just happen, and we’ve got to go with the flow.”

Kim told KIRO 7.

While the emergency rock wall installation will require months of ongoing construction to complete, water testing results remain the immediate milestone for public health clearance.