Tsunami debris causing economic boom - KPTV - FOX 12
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Thousands of tourists are flocking to see a dock that washed up on the Oregon Coast from the Japanese tsunami.
The state parks department said about 5,000 people are coming to Agate Beach near Newport every day. Many of the visitors are from the Portland and Seattle areas, but some are also coming from across the country and the world.
The Newport Chamber of Commerce said the economic impact of all those people has been substantial.
One restaurant manager said her business had a full summer's worth of customers by the end of June and the crowds aren't normally large until after July 4.
"The beach is the number one tourist attraction in all of Oregon so it's natural for people to come and beachcomb, but now there's an added curiosity with what might wash up or what they might find," Lorna Davis with the Newport Chamber of Commerce said.
The parks department has already removed some pieces of the dock for preservation and those items may eventually be on display.
Demolition is scheduled for the end of the month.
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