The U.S. Coast Guard has shut down all maritime entrances in the Pacific Northwest due to high seas and the large amount of debris in the water from 5 days of heavy rain.

Officials said the Oregon ports closed to all traffic are the ports of Chetco River in Brookings; Coos Bay; the Umpqua River in Winchester Bay; the Siuslaw River in Florence; Yaquina Bay in Newport; Depoe Bay; Tillamook Bay in Garibaldi; and the Columbia River at Astoria.

The ports of Grays Harbor in Westport and the Quillayute River in LaPush are also closed.



"My job as a Captain of the Port is to ensure safety throughout the maritime infrastructure and part of that is to sometimes close the lanes of traffic that mariners use," said Capt. Dan Travers, commander Sector Columbia River and Captain of the Port for all ports in Oregon and Southwest Washington. "The storms that we all experienced over the last several days have made it dangerous for mariners to transit in and out of our many rivers due to severe sea conditions and debris."

On Wednesday at Tillamook Bay, the surf was chocolate brown and choked with floating debris. By Thursday, more powerful surf had pushed all that frothing debris back into the bay, replaced by high surf and blue water.

The Columbia River runs brown from silt and runoff after days of heavy rainfall in Astoria Friday. Heavy rains and flooding can cause excess debris to be washed into the river creating hazards to navigation for mariners in the area.

"It's not rare at all to close the ports," said Coast Guard spokesman, Petty Officer 1st Class Levi Read. "The closures usually come with heavy sea conditions and the ships can't get out. The reason for this closure in addition to the heavy seas is because of the amount of the debris."



For updated river entrance observations and conditions visit the NOAA Western U.S. Bar Observation site.







-- Stuart Tomlinson

stomlinson@oregonian.com

503-221-8313

@ORweather