You asked about “Green River flooding.” I well remember when I first came here there were plenty of sand bags, even on Meeker at times, years ago.
I came here to update San Born Insurance maps in the state, so I walked many towns alley to alley and block for block.
They were building the Alaska Viaduct, and I got to see what was under it. I asked, “what about that tunnel on First Avenue in Seattle?” and they said if it had been First Avenue Tunnel, everything from Fourth Avenue down to the waterfront would slide into the bay. I asked, “if it did, what would happen?”
They said Smith Tower was the pivot point and if the quake would drop 20 feet, flooding Boeing with 20 feet of water, and the Kent Valley would drop 10 feet downtown if it did.
They showed me the peninsula was floating away from the mainland. Even in 1962 the public library on Fourth Avenue in Seattle slid four feet toward the Sound in an earthquake. That is why they did not make the First Avenue tunnel and built the viaduct instead. The quake faults stop at Auburn, they said. Makes one wonder why they want a tunnel on First Avenue, in Seattle. The elderly engineer said if the tunnel caused the quake, Pike Place Market didn’t stand a chance to survive. Makes one wonder about why they plan the First Avenue Tunnel now.
Leon Thompson
Kent
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