The freshwater lagoon at Oceanview Estates received record amounts of rain runoff during the atmospheric river onslaught that hit the Pacific Northwest in mid-November. Homeowners were concerned enough to call on the marina to open up the gates controlling the outflow to the ocean.
Marina manager Zihao Ding posted a response on local social media explaining that it wasn’t a simple matter of opening the gates.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding about people thinking the gate can be opened and closed easily at no risk and minimal effort, but that is far from the truth. The gate is rather a last resort “switch.” It is physically hard to open and close it, which may lead to other issues later on,” he wrote.
The lagoon receives fresh water runoff from higher land north of it as well as from wetlands immediately adjacent to it on the north and west. The water is released into the ocean based on the tide state. Zihao said that the marina had already opened “all the gates that we can safely open, [and] it simply takes time to drain the massive volume of rain we had on Point Roberts.”
Zihao added, “At the current moment, due to the volume of the rain water, it may cause major public infrastructure and/or private property damages once it is fully open on a high tide. The marina will only fully open the gate when it is an absolute life-threatening emergency.”
The marina planned to open the gate based upon the tide level to allow for a controlled rate of release.
As of the morning of November 18, the water level had already dropped about six inches.
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