Big Oops! Tug Sank On The Columbia

[Gofirstclass]

News reports are saying a 38' tug sank on the Columbia River about 10 miles upstream from McNary Dam. A further update (and tonight's news program) said the tug was tied to a barge on Friday night, secured by 6 steel cables. When the workers went down there today around 1:00 the tug was not secured to the barge any more. They spotted it, sunk, nearby where they had tied it up.

Their major concern is the 750 gallons of diesel that was on board. A crane will be brought to the site on Wednesday to lift the tug out of the water.

 

[wyrman]

I'm sure it broke loose partly because of the winds. I read the highest wind was recorded at 74mph Sunday.
I know the wind kept me inside most of the day.

 

[Tacoma290]

It was quite a wind event near water this weekend. I saw buoy reports Sunday on the Strait of Juan de Fuca indicating 23 foot seas. That was no joke.
Nice weekend to be working on changing gas filters.
Back on topic, the good news on sinking is that divers have plugged the fuel vents, minimizing fuel leakage.

 

[Gofirstclass]

We had power poles and lines down all over the area, trees blown down, etc. According to the paper a wind speed reading on top of one of the hills around town hit a high of 82mph. We didn't have any damage right in our neighborhood and I made sure the boat was securely tied in the slip, so no problems there.

 

[DWABoat]

We had power poles and lines down all over the area, trees blown down, etc. According to the paper a wind speed reading on top of one of the hills around town hit a high of 82mph. We didn't have any damage right in our neighborhood and I made sure the boat was securely tied in the slip, so no problems there.

Sh!&! That’s entering hurricane stuff there.

 

[Gofirstclass]

We had gusts in the high 40's but nothing like that. We have some relatives who live up on a ridge south of town. The winds are almost always out of the SW and when the winds kick up they can't even open their front door because if they did they couldn't get it shut again. They have to go out the back door then walk around the house if that's the direction they're heading. Even when the wind is just huffing and puffing down here in town they're getting blasted.

What's the old saying? "Couldn't pay me enough!"

 

[Gofirstclass]

An update on the tug. The divers plugged all the places fuel could leak out of the tank and plugged the other tanks (black water) so nothing can leak out. They're bringing in a crane from Portland on a barge Wednesday to lift the boat out of the water and (I'm guessing) will set it on the barge and float it downriver to Portland where they lift it off to a repair place.