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Western Washington -- A Retreat Potential and Disaster Assessment, by B.H.
I am writing to you at length today about Western Washington and its retreat
potential and Assessment of disaster scenarios. Last year I made a career move
that required us to move to Western Washington from Eastern Washington. We
moved into what is considered the South Sound area
of Western Washington (WWA) this area includes the State capital of Olympia
and its bedroom communities of Tumwater and Lacey. Lacey and South East Olympia
border the “Argonne Forest” of Fort Lewis. On a side note the 3rd
Stryker Brigade is starting to rotate back home—Great
job to you all and were glad to have you home on American soil!
Let me take a moment to describe some important geographic details about WWA.
Imagine a vertical strip of land 60 miles wide and bordered along the north/south
axis by ocean and mountains. The entire WWA is riddled with rivers running
East to West from the Cascade Mountains into Puget Sound or directly into the
Pacific Ocean. Starting in King County the population center expands outward
to the
North and South with heavy concentrations in Pierce(South) and Snohomish (North)
and East into the cities of Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland and Issaquah. Interstate
90 runs directly through these cities and stops directly next to Qwest Stadium
(Seahawks). Running North/South directly through WWA is Interstate 5 ("I-5")
which at times is 8 lanes wide to just two lanes in Lewis and Cowlitz Counties.
I have spent one year driving almost all of WWA for my job and I am
convinced that WWA is not in anyway viable for retreat potential and at best
would be
a death trap during any Disaster. The main two reasons are 1) Population/Culture
and 2) Nodes of Transportation/Infrastructure. I have found it best to describe
and discuss these blended topics rather than individual subjects. I’m
sure what I’m about to discuss may be quite redundant to most SurvivalBlog
readers but what is new information is the application to the specific region
called WWA or Puget Sound.
The first point of concern is and always should be size of population and without
being too redundant you can imagine the jar of marbles exercise being applied
to Seattle area and it’s obvious that no truly rural area truly exists
in Western Washington. The golden horde numbers well over 2 million people
just
in the
Puget Sound area. The greatest concern is that the majority of these people
are left-wing
big government liberals. The Seattle or “West-Side” culture as
called by the Eastern Washington (Eastsiders) is very decadent or metropolitan
lifestyle. The average Sounder relies heavily upon morning lattes, delivered
sushi for lunch and fast food for dinner so the kids can get to soccer practice.
It’s a decadent lifestyle but frail and unsustainable. This coastal community
relies heavily upon government interference and actually tends to vote socialist
in every election. In fact, I predict the socialist’s will kill gun shows
in Washington in the 2008 legislative session since they control both
houses and the governor’s mansion. They may also ban .50 caliber rifles
if they push hard enough.
When you drive the I-5 corridor you get to notice lots of similarities in the
average driver. The average Seattleite drives a Subaru and/or hybrid auto.
Most cars have bumper stickers that reflect the overall socialist thread of
the population. The most predominate are “Free Tibet”, “Al
Gore for President” and the usual “Bush-hating, anti-war, I’m
a coward let’s give up- why can’t we just group hug” bumper
stickers. The most appalling I’ve seen is one pledging allegiance to
the UN. It took a lot of effort not to run that guy off the road and hang him
as a traitor.
If I had to summarize the culture of the average West-sider I would have to
say they are socialist, nanny-stators who think it is they’re duty and
obligation to use government to force people into living their lives the way
the liberal sees fit. No property rights, no gun rights just what is best for
the collective good. They won’t be happy until we are all walking or
riding bikes and digging for grubs so “Mother Earth” won’t
be plagued with the human parasite.
The second point of concern is node of transportation/infrastructure. Most
people think of rain when they think of Seattle. Rain and runoff go hand in
hand. As moist pacific air moves inland the Cascade mountain range forces the
clouds up which squeezes the rain out of the clouds. This is the reason Seattle
gets so much precipitation and Eastern Washington is dry and arid. All the
rain runs down and drains back into Puget Sound or the Ocean via dozens of
rivers. You can’t drive more than 20 minutes going North or South on
I-5 without having to cross a bridge. There is water everywhere. This leads
to concentrated traffic flow on all North South arterials and since the Mountains
only allow a few East-West passages through mountain passes. All traffic flow
in Western Washington is overly concentrated.
Also added into the equation is the state politics over the last two decades.
Liberal democrats have obstructed common sense growth and infrastructure planning
and building. The result is growth management bordering on the criminal when
it came to adding on new infrastructure and roadwork projects. No new lanes
have been added to the I-5 corridor in over 10 years. Some projects to add
additional lanes are nearly complete but it is too little, too late. The population
growth due to Microsoft, Boeing and a blockbuster economy similar to Silicon
Valley has put the carrying capacity of current roads way below what is necessary.
Not to mention the cost of living is 20% higher than Eastern Washington and
real estate over inflated to double the cost of Eastern Washington.
The results are catastrophic even on most average of days. I have seen traffic
at a dead stop at 2 PM on a Tuesday because someone got a flat tire and had
pulled over to change the flat. Our Northbound traffic had slowed to a stop
and Southbound traffic was slowed to a crawl just because people wanted to
see what was going on—which was absolutely nothing. I don’t think
a vehicle with a full tank of gas would make it 100 miles during an evacuation
scenario or crises. I fill up when leaving the South Sound and it takes me
almost two hours to go North to I-90 just to get started going East.
In closing, I could go on for days with examples of how bad it is. But the
only conclusion is that Western Washington is a death trap when it comes to
evacuating. I would like to hear from some readers about potential enclaves
in the “rural” parts of the Olympic Peninsula or far southwestern
sections about potential retreat locations. I will concede that the heavy
timber
growth
and easy access to water and wildlife could lead to favorable retreat locations
but only if road access is cut-off or the population is on foot and not in
vehicles.
The year that I have spent here has convinced me to move back to the Intermountain
West and commute to WWA for work only. Which means I am now forced to set up
alternate evac routes and caches to get over the Cascades and to home/retreat
in case of an emergency. Time to go re-check my Bug Out Bag.
Jim, thank you again for the opportunity to add to the discussion on your
blog. I have been a long time reader; 10
Cent Challenge subscriber, and [content] contributor
and I look forward to many more years of learning from you and your readers.
JWR Adds: Any SurvivalBlog readers that live in Western
Washington and that have plans to "Get Out of Dodge " to a retreat
in the eastern half of the state
(or beyond, to
northern Idaho or western Montana) should make several alternate route plans,
and practice driving them. Crossing the Cascades in winter can be dicey, even
in "normal" times. Roughly 26,000 vehicles a day travel the Snoqualmie
Pass route. But during a crisis, the Snoqualmie Pass bottleneck may very well
turn
into a death trap. Without a lot of study, here are some tentative suggestions:
Plan A, for the sake of speed and simplicity should be I-90,
assuming good weather and that you can get on the road ahead
of the
Golden Horde. Plan B might be to drive south and parallel
the Columbia River Gorge, on the north shore.
Plan C would be to take one of the smaller pass roads (such as White Pass
and Stevens Pass), assuming good weather. Many of these are closed during
winter months.
Plan D might be
to take
surface roads, a
car/passenger ferry, or
a privately owned boat north, then
make your way east by 4WD pickup
or SUV through
lightly-populated British Columbia and
Alberta, and then drop back down into the States once you are safely far
enough east. Because of Canada's restrictive gun laws, this would only be
an option
if you have
nearly
all of
your guns, ammo,
and gear pre-positioned
at your retreat. You might be able to carry a flare gun, edged weapons,
impact weapons (such as a baseball bat) and road flares (when lit, these
make great "stay away" intimidators), but probably not much more.
(OBTW, as I often tell my consulting clients, in the event of a search, "dual
use" items
must be found
in appropriate context by law enforcement officials. For example,
your flare gun and flare cartridges should be stored in the same dufflebag
as
your nautical
charts and tide tables.
And your baseball bat should be carried with a baseball mitt looped around
one end, and stowed alongside a couple of softballs.) Traveling lightly-armed
would
be a
calculated risk. But if it is winter the Snoqualmie
Pass is jammed,
and
the
other passes
are
closed
for
the season,
then it might be worth the risk.
