Several pilings have detached from the Cayucos Pier and washed up along the shore, leading to a long-term closure for at least part of the pier.
When the damage occurred, the Cayucos Pier was already closed due to the recent storm, a preventative measure taken to keep people safe in case waves came onto the pier.
“The cross beams and the pilings that go down into the sand are called bents. The very last bent is bent number 61 and that looks like the piers were sheared off underwater and the piers and the bent are missing now on the very last bent,” explained Shaun Cooper, San Luis Obispo County Parks Assistant Director.
Around three to four pilings are washed up along the shore.
An engineer assessed the pier Wednesday morning to determine whether it's safe for the public to walk on the pier.
“He’s recommending that we can open the pier back up to bent 57, which is not quite the end of the pier, but leave the very end of the pier closed off,” Cooper said.
Timothy Harris visits Cayucos to surf and wasn’t surprised to hear about the damage.
“We like to walk out on the beach, but we also like to walk out on the pier. Sometimes people are fishing. I’m not surprised. There were some 14-15 foot swells, so probably did some damage,” Harris said.
The pier was rebuilt about nine years ago but county parks officials say storm surges could still have an effect.
“When we have high storm and debris and logs in the water, something like that could hit the pier and cause damage, especially when there’s a lot of energy with the storm surge. The engineer suspects something like that to do that much damage could’ve likely been a large log that hit the end of the pier,” Cooper said.
A full assessment of the pier will need to be made in May when the water is calmer. Underwater divers will look at the conditions of the pier to determine the repairs that need to be made. After this assessment, the process to design those repairs will take about three months.
SLO County Parks officials say the goal is for a repair plan to be in place by September.
“We’re pretty bummed about it. We’ll get it done. It’s a strong little beach town here and one little thing like that is not going to stop us from having fun,” said Mike Cantafio, Chu-Chews Churros owner.
Cantafio says Cayucos gets a lot of tourists during the summer but he doesn’t think the pier being closed will affect tourism.
“I don’t think it will. Especially if they open it up a little bit. I think that’ll be nice for everyone to continue to be able to walk out at least as much as they can, but overall, I don’t think it will affect the tourism here,” he said.
San Luis Obispo County Parks says part of the Cayucos Pier is expected to reopen by the end of the day Wednesday or Thursday; however, the end of the pier will remain closed until the fall.
