Westport breaks ground on tsunami vertical evacuation tower

Watch the celebration on YouTube.

City of Westport Contact: Thomas Cappa: (360) 268-0131 | ca@ci.westport.wa.us

WESTPORT- Dozens of people celebrated the groundbreaking of a new tsunami vertical evacuation tower on Oct. 3 in Westport’s marina district after years of planning and community efforts to improve tsunami safety.

"We are a small city but if you look around me and behind me, the boats in these canneries are part of a large food chain that feeds millions of people," Westport Mayor Ed Welter said at the event. "We are small but we are very very important and it's important that we continue to fight for this town and these citizens and their safety and just never, ever give up."  

Dignitaries at the groundbreaking.

The tower will be located at the corner of Harms Street and East Harbor Street in Westport. The majority of funding for the project's funding comes from a federal grant secured through the City of Westport and Washington Emergency Management Division. Construction is expected to be finished by the end of summer 2027.

A view from above with the Marina District nearby

The need for vertical evacuation in Westport is significant. Following a magnitude 9.0 Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake, tsunami waves could reach the community in approximately 15 minutes. Modeling used to support Westport’s FEMA application estimates approximately 6,075 casualties from a Cascadia tsunami according to the 2025 WA EMD's Cascadia Subduction Zone Tsunami Loss Estimate Study. Planning efforts have identified the need for at least three additional vertical evacuation structures in Westport to provide high ground for people who may not be able to evacuate beyond the tsunami inundation zone in time. Statewide, Washington needs at least 58 vertical evacuation structures in key coastal locations to help address this evacuation gap.

The project builds on years of work by the city, Westport's Tsunami Safety Committee, community members, WA EMD and other partners to improve tsunami preparedness and evacuation options.

"Building this structure reduces the evacuation time in this marina area down to 15 minutes," Maximilian Dixon, Hazards and Outreach Section Supervisor for the Washington Emergency Management Division, said at the groundbreaking. "That's huge. Over 1,000 people will be on this structure open to everyone. So folks visiting here, living here, working here are all going to have safe refuge to survive. That's massive. And in less than a year it will be completed."

The project comes from a FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant initially awarded in 2020. The $13.7 million project includes approximately $763,000 in matching funds from the City of Westport and $763,000 from the state through Washington’s Disaster Response Account.

Absher Construction won the construction bid with estimated construction costs of $11.181 million. The tower was designed by Cale Ash and Degenkolb Engineers.

Large pilings will be driven into the ground to help secure the structure against tsunami forces and debris. The tower will sit on city-owned property, provide refuge for at least 1,000 people and serve as a public viewing tower when not needed for emergencies.

The Westport tower will be the third tsunami vertical evacuation structure in Washington. Ocosta Elementary School completed the state’s first VES in 2016, followed by the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe’s freestanding Auntie Lee Vertical Evacuation Tower in 2022.

“This is an exciting milestone for Westport and the result of years of dedication, collaboration and hard work,” said Danté DiSabatino, Tsunami Vertical Evacuation Structure Project Manager for the Washington Emergency Management Division. “Westport is showing what’s possible when an entire community comes together to design and build these lifesaving tsunami vertical evacuation structures. There is still more work to do across Washington. In communities where natural high ground cannot be reached in time before a tsunami hits, we must build it to save lives."

What the interior design looks like