A section of the Santa Cruz Wharf that collapsed into the Pacific Ocean as seen on Tuesday. As a series of winter storms slammed California’s coast with powerful rip currents and towering waves, part of the Santa Cruz Wharf collapsed on Monday , plunging two contractors and a city employee into the water. The pier was one of several public wharves and piers in the state actively undergoing structural integrity upgrades. While the coastal structures have occasionally succumbed to the ocean’s power throughout the years (including the Santa Monica Pier, once while the mayor was standing on it ), the aging structures now face increasingly dynamic and unpredictable storms and often expensive and delayed upgrade projects. “We have exposed infrastructure across the entire California coast, and it’s going to be … stressed by the impacts of climate change, whether it’s changes in storm patterns, frequency and magnitude or sea level,” said Patrick Barnard, research director for the Climate Impacts and Coastal Processes Team at the U.S. Geological Survey. Advertisement At least 10 of the state’s dozens of coastal public piers were closed for part or all of 2024 due to structural damage sustained in winter storms over the last two years. At least five more have longer-term upgrade plans to address structural issues. In 2018, a structural analysis of San Diego’s Ocean Beach Pier found the best option to address ongoing expensive repair needs and rising sea levels was to replace the pier. In late 2023, violent winter storms walloped the pier, significantly damaging it . The city determined that continuing to repair the current pier as city officials planned for its replacement was no longer feasible. Instead, the pier will remain closed until the city completes the $8 million-plus, multiyear replacement project. Meanwhile, the Ventura Pier and Santa […]