Washaway Beach in Washington State has lived up to its name, and then some. The most rapidly eroding stretch of coast in the Western United States has been losing 100 feet of sand and turf a year for the past century. The erosion recently cost the Grant family their home, which collapsed after a series of storms wiped out the 30 feet of lawn that had separated the cabin from the Pacific Ocean. The family knew it was just a matter of time before the encroaching sea destroyed the building, which was purchased in 1991when it was about 3/4 of a mile from the ocean. The erosion accelerated over the last 15 months, eating away about 750 feet of beach.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Cabin at Washaway Beach falls into Pacific Ocean (by Susan Wyatt, King 5 News)

Washaway Beach (Washington State Department of Ecology)