Santa Cruz Wharf collapses during repair project, 3 rescued

The end of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf in California collapsed into the sea Monday during a repair project.

Winter storms had previously damaged the end of the wharf, which was undergoing a $4 million project to repair the damage.

In total, about 150 feet at the end of the wharf was destroyed, officials said. These include the Dolphin Restaurant and a toilet.

Santa Cruz police, along with sister station KSBW, confirmed that three people were on the wharf when it collapsed. Two of them had to be rescued, the last person got out of the water alone.

Minor injuries were reported. The quay was immediately evacuated.

“We had our engineer, our engineering team and our wharf crew on site monitoring it minute by minute,” said a city official, Matt Huffaker. “We made the decision that based on our forecast models today it would be safe to do this under constant monitoring.”

The port of Santa Cruz is closed until further notice, as is the quay. Police say Main Beach and Cowell’s Beach are also closed. Out of an abundance of caution, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk was also closed for the rest of the day.

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The city referred to “significant damage caused by the storm surge. Although some landside businesses are open, access and parking may be severely limited.”

The full extent of the damage is currently unknown. The quay will remain closed until further notice.

A crane and a skid steer loader also fell into the sea. The toilets at the end of the pier also fell into the water and landed on Seabright Beach.

“We hear the pier cracking and it was swaying a lot,” said Landon Ky, a witness. “So my friend actually noticed it, but we kind of brushed it off and then the whole thing crashed into the water probably within the next five minutes.”

Officials expect the weather to worsen and more damage to the wharf.

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