To many locals, it feels like Santa Cruz’s picturesque coast is being battered like never before.
Waves from strong winter storms and a pair of tsunamis have caused millions of dollars in damage to the wharf and marina area in recent years, including an onslaught of dangerous waves this week that washed almost 150 feet of its wharf out to sea.
A large section of the century-old wharf detached from the rest of the structure amid turbulent swells Monday, sending three people — all of whom survived — into the sea, casting a bathroom to float miles south and leaving onlookers in shock.
“The wharf’s been around for over 100 years, and this is the first time I can remember anything like this happening,” said Gino Marini, co-owner of Marini’s Candies, which has its flagship store not far from where part of the wharf broke off. His family’s business has been on the wharf for 40 years, and although he remembers storms that caused significant damage — pilings cracking or boats crashing — there’s never been a collapse this major.
This latest offensive from the ocean worries officials and some locals, who wonder how common such dangerously strong and frequent waves may become in Santa Cruz, worsened by a warming climate that is raising sea levels and pumping more energy into the waves.
“Mother Nature holds the cards,” Santa Cruz Assistant City Manager Michelle Templeton said at a news conference this week. “We do know that these west swells are continuing to grow in severity, and we’ll continue to assess the damage that’s been ongoing to determine how we’re going to proceed.”
The dangerous surf that walloped through Monterey Bay earlier this week also has been blamed for the death of at least one person who became trapped under debris and left another missing at sea, officials said. Both incidents occurred slightly south of Santa Cruz.
The city’s wharf remains closed as officials evaluate its stability and prepare for a second approaching system that also is expected to bring high surf, with waves reaching 30 feet in some parts of Northern California. However, meteorologists say this next storm will not bring swells as strong as those that overwhelmed the wharf Monday.
But this is just the most recent instance of serious damage recorded in the Santa Cruz Harbor.
Nearly a year ago to the date, another winter storm surged into Santa Cruz’s wharf, damaging it enough that it was briefly closed to the public. City officials eventually began extensive repairs, including demolishing a restaurant at the end of the wharf — which became part of the section that was washed away this week. The repairs were expected to be complete in March.
A year earlier, a tsunami set off by a volcanic eruption in Tonga brought major disruptions to Santa Cruz Harbor, causing an estimated $6 million in damage. The surge from the tsunami coincided with high tide, flooding parts of Santa Cruz that had never before taken on water, pouring across parking lots and electrical transformers.
Still, that tsunami wasn’t as bad at the one that hit California in 2011, churning through Santa Cruz Harbor, pushing and bumping boats together, sinking at least 14 and damaging many others. State officials reported more than $100 million in damage across its coast from the event, noting that almost all docks in the harbors of Santa Cruz and Crescent City were damaged or destroyed.
But despite its challenging history with seaside calamities, meteorologists say Santa Cruz is positioned in a geographically advantageous way — facing south into Monterey Bay. That often shelters the coastal city from the worst waves that hit Northern California.
“The way that the Santa Cruz pier is oriented, often they’re a bit more sheltered from northwestern swells,” said Brayden Murdoch, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Monterey. “Typically, when we start getting more northwestern swells, it’s very hard for the waves to wrap around the curve of Santa Cruz.”
And it’s those northwesterly waves that are typically the strongest to hit the Golden State, he said.
But, when storms originate farther south than a typical winter storm — as occurred Monday — Murdoch said that can leave Santa Cruz more vulnerable to strong waves, and less accustomed to their fury.
“When the storm really picked up energy, it’s location relative to us was almost due west,” Murdoch said. Although strong waves from that direction are less common, he said they can develop at this time of year, which more directly hit Santa Cruz.
When strong waves come from the south — as occurred during the Tonga tsunami — Santa Cruz is most vulnerable, Murdoch said, though he noted that such strong events from that location are least likely.
“It’s quite an event when we do actually have a strong southwestern swell,” Murdoch said. “But when it can happen it can cause a lot of damage.”
But mostly, officials say there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to predicting how strong a storm will be and where it will originate — and just how at risk a city such as Santa Cruz could be.
“It really just depends on each system as it moves across the Pacific,” said Roger Gass, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Monterey. “Every storm is a little bit different.”
Despite Santa Cruz’s history and what occurred this week, Marini of the candy retailer said he has full confidence in what remains of the wharf — which is the vast majority of it — even though officials have kept it closed for further inspections.
“We’ve been around, we’ve seen a lot,” Marini, 48, said. “In our almost 41 years that we’ve been there, I think we’ve closed 10 days for stuff like this. … Waves have been bigger.”
He blames the ongoing construction at the end of the pier for weakening it at the worst possible time.
“A little earlier, we might not be in this situation,” Marini said. “It was just that one section that wasn’t being reinforced as much.”
His main worry right now is for his business, as well as the other small shops and restaurants on the wharf all forced to remain closed during what is typically one of the busiest times of year.
“Usually, this is time we’re thriving,” Marini said. He said he got an update Thursday from officials about inspections continuing, but no clear update for reopening.
“It’s a little worrisome that this could take longer than we’d like it to,” he said. “Bills are still coming in.”
It’s not just a worry for him, he said, but also for his nearly 25 employees, whom he can no longer schedule for work shifts. So for now he’s just hoping for a quick, safe reopening on the wharf.
“I’m hoping that people aren’t afraid to come back out here,” he said. “We rely on the tourists, we rely on the locals.”
Times staff writers Nathan Solis, Clara Harter and Salvador Hernandez contributed to this report.
