In a brief special meeting Friday, three Santa Cruz County Supervisors declared a local emergency, which will allow officials to request state and federal assistance for the damages from the heavy surf, winds and storm surge on Dec. 23 and 24.
The waves broke away 150 feet of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf and drove debris onto numerous beaches and into the Santa Cruz Small Yacht Harbor, where it sunk at least 6 boats and damaged numerous others, said Dave Reed, who manages the county’s Office of Response, Recovery & Resilience.
East Cliff Drive, the Rio Del Mar Esplanade and Beach Drive were also damaged, as were businesses in Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Port District, Rio Del Mar and Capitola.
Damages are still being tallied, but officials say they have so far been assessed at more than $25 million, a number that is expected to rise. This is not including private property.
Friday was the fourth year in a row the county has made such a declaration.
“(The) county for the last 5-6 years has been in almost permanent state of disaster repair, and as soon as we start to bail out of it, something else seems to happen,” Supervisor Zach Friend said.
The county will now forward the resolution to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
I’m hoping the county has someone who actually knows how to inspect the wharf to see the repairs that need to happen before it falls apart fully. When I walk under the wharf on the beach I can see, with untrained eyes, that the metal connections holding the wood together are totally severely rusting. Are you waiting until they crumble apart?