The scenic seaside village of Capitola, a resort destination on Monterey Bay for generations of tourists since the 1860s, began a challenging new chapter in its colorful history Friday, digging out from the worst storm damage in 40 years.
The town’s 855-foot-long wooden wharf, a popular spot for fishing and sightseeing, was cleaved in half from pounding waves the day before that smashed wooden pilings and decking. Well-known waterfront restaurants sat behind emergency fencing in various states of damage from storm surges that broke through windows and undermined building foundations.
Most of the village, just 13 feet above sea level, remained without power all day Friday.
“The damage throughout Capitola and the village is absolutely devastating,” said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend. “You’ve got iconic locations that were significantly damaged, locally owned businesses that are red-tagged, and a wharf that will take millions to rebuild to its previous state.
“The rebuilding process and healing the emotional scars will take a long time.”
Adding to the grief: City officials had been planning in recent years a $7 million project to shore up and strengthen the Capitola Wharf by widening it, installing fiberglass pilings and taking other steps to harden it against major storms, particularly in an era of rising seas amid climate change.
They had delayed work several times seeking additional federal funding. But the ocean didn’t wait.
In a bitter irony, on Friday, U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Monterey, announced that after two years of trying, he had secured the city’s request of $3.5 million to fully fund the job when President Biden signed a federal spending bill on Dec. 29.
Panetta said Friday that the money can be used to help repair the beloved wharf.
“These are special places, and they deserve the type of attention we need to give them to rebuild,” he said.
Crews continued to remove mud, sand and debris from the village and from around the colorful Venetian apartments across Soquel Creek, many of which also suffered damage from water and debris. City officials were worried about another powerful storm expected to hit Sunday night.
Debris could pile up at the creek’s mouth, flooding the village, Capitola Police Chief Andrew Dally said.
“Each new event creates its own challenges,” he said.
Three miles down the coast, destruction more serious than previously thought was coming to light at Seacliff State Beach, another popular attraction for thousands of visitors a year.
All 60 of the oceanfront campsites, so popular they are booked nearly solid 365 days a year, were badly damaged, said Chris Spohrer, superintendent of state parks’ Santa Cruz District.
“Many of them were completely destroyed,” Spohrer said. “The picnic tables. The hookups. The asphalt. The restrooms were severely damaged. We saw inundation. Doors were broken off with driftwood. The tide came all the way up to the base of the cliff. It destroyed a good portion of the seawall.”
The visitor center and museum was unharmed, he said. Half of the park’s wooden pier fell into the ocean, and the 1920s era “cement ship,” wrecked by storms in 2017 and before, was further battered. The road into New Brighton State Beach nearby also was damaged, Spohrer added. Both parks remained closed until at least next week.
Dozens of homes in the Rio Del Mar area also suffered flood damage, authorities said.
The Capitola waterfront, well-known to weekend visitors from the Bay Area who pack beaches on warm days, endured its worst storm damage since January of 1982 and 1983 when gales tore a similar hole in the wharf and sent mud and debris through the streets.
Three of the eight restaurants on Capitola Village’s oceanfront were red-tagged Friday with severe damage and no entry permitted — Zelda’s, The Sand Bar and Paradise Beach Grille. Five were yellow-tagged, with city officials allowing limited entry for the proprietors of Tacos Moreno, My Thai Beach, Pizza My Heart, Margaritaville and Capitola Bar & Grill.
Restaurant owners had one over-riding concern: “Getting back to work when the city lets us,” said Josh Whitby, co-owner of Zelda’s, where debris including a beam from the wharf broke through the beach-facing windows and a wall, flooding the interior.
Capitola Bar & Grill, which sits on concrete unlike most of the other beachfront establishments built on pilings over the water, escaped damage, but city officials told owners Michelle and LaSalle Strong that the city’s sewer system was damaged, potentially affecting their re-opening.
“We’re losing income every day,” Michelle Strong said. “Our staff are losing income every day.”
Nearby, the floor of The Sand Bar was tipped up several inches. Paradise Beach Grille’s stepping-stone entrance was pushed up and broken, while inside large portions of drywall had buckled and fallen onto the furniture and floor.
Capitola City Manager Jamie Goldstein said that he didn’t yet have a damage estimate, but the city was working on compiling one.
Asked about decisions the city council made in 2021 and again this past July to delay some renovation work on the wharf to seek more funding for a more expansive project, Goldstein noted that the city replaced corroding steel pilings in December 2021 at the end of the wharf. This week’s storm was so powerful that the broader job planned — new wooden decking, new fiberglass pilings, a wider wharf and restrooms — could well have been damaged also, he said, particularly if the construction, estimated to take nine months, had been underway during the storm.
“Anyone can armchair quarterback,” he said. “Whether or not we were lucky or unlikely we did it that way, I don’t know. But it’s where we are.”
He said the town, which suffered similar damage in 1983, 1982, 1955 and 1913, will bounce back.
“I think it’s going to surprise us all,” Goldstein said. “I think we are going to get it done faster than anyone expects. Capitola has pulled through before.”
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