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Update: 1st piece off Newport tsunami dock stuck in sand

The Associated Press

Workers removing a tsunami dock from Agate Beach near Newport cut off the first piece Wednesday, but they were unable to remove it before dark.

The state Parks and Recreation Department says it may have been held down by suction from the water-soaked beach.

Workers expect they'll be able to move it Thursday as they cut more pieces from the 66-foot-long dock.

Workers have started cutting up the giant Japanese dock that was torn away by last year's tsunami and washed up on an Oregon beach.

Oregon Parks Department spokesman Chris Havel said Wednesday that workers for Ballard Diving and Salvage got their wire saw working and decided to just go ahead with the first cut, rather than wait for afternoon.

The plan is to cut the 165-ton concrete dock into five slices, like a loaf of bread, and load them onto flatbed trucks, which drive over the soft sand on a roadway of planks and steel plates.

One piece, bearing a mural of some waves painted along one side, will stay in Newport as a memorial to last year's tsunami in Japan. The rest will be trucked to Portland for dismantling.

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