Hazard Assessment

Address Investigated: 3041 NW 57th St, Seattle, WA 98107

Picture of property:

Volcanic Hazards: Severe Risk

Washington is home to 5 active volcanoes that are all east of Seattle, these
volcanoes are referred to as the Cascade Volcanoes because they are in the
Cascade Range. The closest of these volcanoes, Mt. Baker is only 80 miles away
from Seattle. Mt. Baker’s last eruption was in 1980, and it is a stratovolcano. Mt.
St. Helens is also very close to Seattle, its last eruption was in 2004 and it stopped
erupting in 2008, but Mt. St. Helens had the deadliest eruption of U.S. history in
1980. Due to the amount of activity from the volcanoes near Seattle and the
damage they have caused in the past is why I have ruled volcanoes to be a severe
risk.
Expansive Soils: Low Risk
Washington is home to tokul soil which is composed of a surface that is rich in
nutrients from decaying plant matter, a layer of iron, and a layer that is deposited
from glaciers mixed with volcanic ash. The soils are soft because Seattle gets a lot
of rain in a year.
Mass Wasting Hazards: High Risk
Seattle is home to high rainfall and has steep topography which makes for the
perfect storm for mass wasting hazards. Seattle is 175 feet above sea level. There
have been many landslides in the past due to the topography. Seattle gets 38
inches of rainfall over 156 days in a year and is usually between 40 and 70
degrees Fahrenheit. November is when Seattle receives the most rain and July
and August are the driest months. Landslides in this area are very likely which is
why I would say that mass wasting is a high risk, because they are very common
and will occur in the future.
Seismic Hazards: High Risk
Seattle sits on the Seattle Fault and has earthquakes daily; it also has deep
earthquakes that occur about every 50 years. With that said the last time there
was a Crustal quake was 1100 years ago, so it is possible for a large earthquake to
occur, but it hasn’t happened in a long time, but earthquakes bring in a number of
other hazards such as landslides, subsidence, and liquefication
Flood Hazards: High Risk
Seattle is susceptible to 4 types of flooding, coastal flooding, riverine, urban, and
dam failure. Though dam failure is mostly a threat outside of the city, it still is a
hazard that is present. In 2006 6 landslides occurred and 300 homes were
flooded. Seattle is highly likely to be flooded again in the future.
Coastal Hazards: Moderate Risk
Seattle is very close to the coast and is highly susceptible to sea level rise due to
climate change, Seattle itself is 175 feet above sea level but the surrounding land
could be damaged if sea levels rise. Due to its proximity to the coast Seattle has
been hit by a few hurricanes, the most recent being in 2006. The city is about 96
miles from the Pacific coastline. I put coastal hazards at a moderate risk because
while Seattle typically gets bad storms over hurricanes but they mostly cause
power outages and other things but not damage to buildings, Seattle is also far
enough from the coast and high up enough that sea level rise shouldn’t be too
much of a worry. There was a hurricane in 1986 that caused significant damage to
the city and produced 12 casualties, but a hurricane of this magnitude hasn’t
happened again.
Drinking Water Safety/ Contamination/Availability Hazards: Moderate Risk
This property uses Seattle’s public utility for the water, which is heavily regulated
by the EPA to ensure no contaminants are in the water. However, there are some
possible contaminants listed on seattle.gov, which are microbial, inorganic, and
organic contaminants, but they say these shouldn’t pose any health risks. The
water that comes from the tap or is bottled comes from rivers, lakes, streams,
ponds, wells, and reservoirs.
Subsidence Hazards: Moderate Risk
Seattle isn’t built on Karst topography but it does have an occasional ‘sinkhole’,
they are usually due to human error in the infrastructure. Sinkholes that occur in
Seattle can also be produced by earthquakes, but other than these sinkholes
caused by earthquakes Seattle only has problems with their infrastructure causing
sinkholes.
General Weather-related Hazards: Low Risk
Seattle does get snow but not enough to bring a blizzard, at least today, in 1880
and 1916 the city had 2-3 feet of snow across it. Seattle does get a lot of rain,
which come with thunderstorms which is more of an inconvenience than a
hazard. Because of the ridiculous amount of rain in this area droughts are not a
problem.
Landfills, Brownfields, or Superfund sites: Low Risk
The property at hand is within proximity to a landfill but this particular one hasn’t
had problems in the past with landfill hazardous waste or hazardous gases. These
gases and waste can be a major hazard if not properly taken care of, a landfill
produces gas such as ammonia, sulfides, methane, and carbon dioxide which can
collect in nearby buildings after transferring in the soil.
Resource Recovery Hazards: Moderate Risk
This property isn’t within proximity to a quarry which is good, but what isn’t good
is the amount of spills that the area gets, oil spills and sewage spills are quite
common in Seattle. This property is also very close to a power plant that is fueled
by steam, which causes air pollution, but they aren’t susceptible to big hazards
like explosions, they also cost more to run so power costs in the area may be high.
There is a solar and wind supplier in Seattle and they do have wind farms but
none are close to this property.

Summary & Recommendation

Seattle is within close proximity to the cascade range volcanoes, which was a
major factor in my decision, they also have heavy amounts of rainfall which can
cause flooding. This heavy rainfall also causes other problems like mass wasting.
Seattle doesn’t have problems with their landfills or drinking water contamination
which is a plus. They do have problems with earthquakes because they sit on a
fault which is a big problem. Due to the amount of potential hazards Seattle has I
would not buy property in this area, they had the worst volcano eruption in U.S
history in 1980 which caused mass amounts of damage, over $1 billion in damage,
they sit on a fault which could cause even more damage in the future and overall
don’t seem like a good place to be due to all of the potential hazards.

Limitation of Liability
(a) SCC Hazard Assessments Ltd. has prepared this Report solely based upon
records and information
provided by various governmental and private agencies. Although reasonable care
has been exercised in compiling the data
and information contained in the Report, SCC Hazard Assessment Ltd. personnel
has assumed that these records and
information are accurate and complete, and has not conducted any independent
verification of their accuracy or
completeness. SCC Hazard Assessments Ltd. shall not be liable to Recipient(s) for
errors, inaccuracies or omissions in this
Report if such errors, inaccuracies or omissions were based upon information
contained in the public and private records used
or were known to exist by Recipient (s) on the date of delivery of this Report to
Recipient(s). (b) SCC Hazard Assessment Ltd.
expressly excludes from liability any disclosures or information (i) not known to SCC
Hazard Assessment Ltd., (ii) not on the
maps used by SCC Hazard Assessment Ltd., (iii) not recorded in the public record
as of the date it was reviewed by SCC Hazard
Assessment Ltd. (iv) not included in the categories included in the Disclosure
Report, (v) which would be discovered by a
physical inspection of the property, (vi) known to any Recipient prior to receipt of the
Report, and/or (vii) regarding the health
or risk to any humans or other living things which may be associated in way with any
of the disclosed hazards. (c) SCC Hazard
Assessment Ltd. is not responsible or liable for the costs of investigating or
remediating any of the disclosed hazards. (d) SCC
Hazard Assessment Ltd. shall not be liable for any damages resulting from a
Recipient’s inability to access the Report. Any
website or hyperlink contained in the Report is provided for informational purposes
only, and SCC Hazard Assessment Ltd. is
not responsible for the accuracy of any information available from or through any
referenced website or hyper