Longview Hills @ Newport Oregon

Blue and Red Tape

An email from Charles Burke and a reply

Hi Ron....Sitting here in my easy chair in the living room and looking across the street I see the blue tape around the stop sign post and also you see the same thing around town on post. So my question is, what is the tape for? My guess would be something to do with a tsunami?

Charles..
Should a 9.3 earthquake occur the Hatfield Marine Science Center scientists told the first responders in Newport that it could generate a Tsunami over 30 ft high. The Fire Chief, Rick Crook rounded that number off to 40 ft. Then just so he could sleep at night he added another 10 ft.. So that means the zone that is safe from tsunami is above 50ft.

Using reflective tape the fire department has been marking street signs below the 50ft inundation (flood) zone with red tape. Taping is usually on Stop signs but I have been seeing some markings on street signs also.

If the street sign is out of the danger of the predicted tsunami it is marked with blue tape. This is to help Newport residents to know, the minute they have an earthquake, if they are in a safe zone or should get to higher ground. Decide quickly as it is estimated you will have only 10 to 20 minutes after the earthquake to get to high ground.

Of course all the signs in the park are marked blue. The entire park is generally above 200ft according to GPS readings.