Santa Cruz Wharf reopens after partially collapsing into ocean during high surf

The Santa Cruz Wharf reopened to visitors and businesses on Saturday, less than two weeks after crashing waves from a powerful storm collapsed more than 100 feet of the pier into the ocean.

“Let the community know, let the people all over Northern California know, it is safe to come to our wharf,” Mayor Fred Keeley said during a weekend reopening ceremony.

About 150 feet along the end of the wharf was washed away last month during dangerous high surf from a series of atmospheric river events that battered Northern California, Oregon and Washington.

The end of the pier was already closed to the public for renovations from heavy rain and storms in the last two years. Last month’s waves took down construction equipment and a restroom building, according to city officials.

Three construction workers serving as project managers and leads for the work fell into the ocean when the wharf collapsed. Two were rescued by lifeguards and one climbed out, city officials said.

Video posted on social media showed part of the pier floating in the water. The city immediately closed the wharf.

Keeley said safety professionals have reviewed the wharf “from beginning to end, from wall to wall, side to side” and with ocean sonar equipment to ensure it was “sound and safe” for visitors and merchants.

The infrastructure advisory firm Moffatt & Nichol completed a structural and sonar assessment of the wharf for the city in the weeks after the collapse, which “confirmed that the structure remains sound.” The city has urged residents to report any wharf-related debris sightings.

Santa Cruz’s wharf brings in 1.5 million to 2 million visitors each year, but the collapse has raised questions over whether to rebuild the pier as city officials estimate more damaging storms to come amid climate change.