Some Santa Cruz County beaches remain closed during another high surf advisory in the area
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION-TV) -- Beaches in Santa Cruz County remain closed as large swells and debris from the collapsed wharf continue to pose safety risks along the coastline.
Large pier pilings are in the water creating a dangerous environment for beachgoers. Officials are urging the public to stay clear of the area until further notice.
"We have Seabright State Beach, Twin Lakes State Beach closed to the public due to hazardous conditions in regards to the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf collapsing," Joe Walters Operations Superintendent for the Santa Cruz District, California State Parks said. "We have multiple pier pilings that are still floating in the water, and they pose a very strong public safety hazard to the public."
The cleanup is a massive multi-agency effort. Crews are working to remove the dangerous debris that spans from Seabright to beaches south of the wharf.
"It's going to be a multi-year, multi-agency cleanup because the debris field is so large," Walters said. "We're seeing debris as far as ten miles south of the pier on one of our state beaches and recently beach."
Among the debris being removed are large pier pilings from the wharf, and even chunks of concrete that officials are monitoring.
"The pure pilings themselves, they're covered in creosote, which is pretty toxic," Walters said. "We have to make sure that we're doing our best environmentally to dispose of these."
Beachgoers also witnessing the damage firsthand.
"There's like long, like, planks of wood and just huge a ton of wood from the wharf just sitting there and it looks like it's probably not very safe to be out there right now," Mark Hanson from Santa Cruz said.
State and local teams are using heavy machinery to clear the debris from Seabright and Twin Lakes.
"We're going to have heavy equipment out there, we're just going to need a lot of space for to keep the public safe," Walters said. Doing an assessment of of the debris field and what we need to do to remove that from the from the water break to bring it further up onto the beach so it can be removed."
With more debris expected to surface over the weekend, it's vital to avoid beaches.
"I would not go in there without shoes or something like close toed or anything like that because it looks pretty rough right now," Elliot Bowers from Ben Lomond said.
But many weren’t surprised to see people out on the beach even with the signage up.
Seabright and Twin Lakes Beaches will remain closed until Monday morning due to hazardous conditions. Crews continue to prepare for more debris as powerful swells are expected this weekend.
