Damage at Santa Cruz harbor estimated at $15M

By Cathy Kelly - Santa Cruz Sentinel
Posted: 03/11/2011 01:00:21 AM PST
Updated: 03/11/2011 05:31:03 PM PST

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(UPDATED 5:30 P.M.) - Santa Cruz port district officials are estimating up to $15 million in damages to the harbor as well as boats docked within.

Lisa Ekers, Santa Cruz port director, estimates 30 to 40 boats worth about $5 million were either damaged or destroyed in Friday's tsunami surges that began around 8 a.m. and are expected to last through about 7 p.m. Harbor facilities suffered another $10 million in estimated damages, Ekers said.

About 4:15 p.m. county officials advised the tsunami warning had been downgraded to an advisory and that everyone could be allowed to return to their homes. Roads were reopened as well, except those nearest the Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor. Beaches are expected to reopen shortly as well, though officials were advising to stay out of the water due to the potential for strong currents.

About 3:30 p.m. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Santa Cruz, Del Norte, Humboldt and San Mateo counties. Susan Mauriello, the county's administrative officer, acting as the director of emergency services, had issued a state of local emergency at noon Friday, but officials expect that status will be lifted later this afternoon once the state Office of Emergency Services cancels a tsunami warning for the California Coast. Until then, county officials are staffing an emergency operations center near DeLaveaga Park and urge residents to be on alert.
Enrique Sahagun, a public information officer at the emergency operations center, said damage within the county is limited to the Santa Cruz harbor. All beaches within the county remain closed.

Ekers said it will take a couple days before full damage is revealed at the harbor, as "there might be damage that we can't see as some of these structures get more and more fatigued."

Ekers said they are working with county environmental health to determine the level of contamination to the area from an unknown number of submerged boats as well as the debris floating in the water.

Several of the docks at the harbor were damaged including half of the U dock, which had 30 to 40 boats tied to it as well as a portion of the X and J docks. Debris from the docks and pieces of boats are floating around the harbor, some having been washed out to sea.

Latest damage estimates from the harbor show as many as 20 boats have sunk with significant damage to 100 vessels. The state Department of Fish and Game is providing four vessels to assist in debris removal and the mooring of loose boats.

Ekers said they started sealing off the harbor's fuel supply at 4:30 a.m. and shoring up whatever they could. At 5 a.m. officials notified those aboard the 50 livable units and closed the harbor about 6 a.m.

Some commercial fishing boats took to the open water rather than test the possibility of the harbor draining of water. That's exactly what happened, leaving some boats aground.

"All of a sudden the water started drawing out about 8 to 9 knots and it escalated quickly," Ekers said.

Just after 11 a.m. Santa Cruz police issued mandatory evacuations for the lower harbor dock area.

Earlier in the morning a loose 30-foot sailboat's mast slammed up against the Murray Street Bridge's piling and then tipped over.

Jeremy Leonard, who has a boat at the V dock, got the harbor about 8:30 a.m. saw a power boat float out of the harbor channel.

"It's a massive amount of water going out of a narrow channel and it's really jacking things up," Leonard said.

Chad Aleck said he saw a beautiful fishing boat sink.

"It's absolute insanity down here," he said.

Some of the boats that sank or were damaged are house boats and many say the harbor is like a family.

Dan Haifley, executive director of O'Neill Sea Odyssey, said water was being sucked in and out of the harbor at a rapid rate and about 20 minutes later rushed back in. Haifley said it tipped the dredge but it did not capsize.

Just before 8 a.m. when the first wave hit there was a small crowd of people gathered at Lighthouse Point. Surfers were in the water trying to catch some of the waves.

Loren Burke, 23, of La Selva Beach, was surfing Friday morning with three friends. Burke grew up in the county and doesn't remember ever hearing a tsunami warning before. He said he was excited seeing the ocean this morning, but didn't expect to see a big wave hit.

"The waves were about 7 foot and it was a lot of fun," Burke said after he got out of the water just after 8 a.m.

At Cowell Beach, surfers watched as the tsunami surge sucked water out of the area, sending funky waves back in, something most had never seen before but not causing any immediate damage.

Diana Henderson of the National Weather Service in Monterey said Friday morning that the series of waves could last for several hours and urged people to stay away from the coast. She said they have seen about a 3-foot rise in water levels in some cases and significant amplitude changes at several locations.

Several people reported that on Main Beach in Santa Cruz, the ocean retreated significantly before rushing back in.

Henderson said the tsunami waves were acting as they had suspected.

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