Seal Beach Pier closed until further notice after sustaining damage from high surf, wind

The Seal Beach Pier has been temporarily closed to the public until further notice due to damage sustained Thursday night during high surf and windy conditions, police officials reported Friday.

Department spokesman Capt. Nick Nicholas said officers coordinated with the city Public Works and Marine Safety divisions, as well as the Orange County Fire Authority, to prepare for and monitor the storm.

Crews Friday work on the Seal Beach Pier, damaged by high winds and surf Thursday night, while beachgoers sit on a sand berm.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

Sometime Thursday evening, with waves reaching as high as the pier’s platform, a call was made to close off the portion of the pier that extends beyond the beach into the water, Nicholas said Friday.

“Around high tide last night, the waves were coming up pretty close to the pier, so we decided to proactively close the pier to make sure nobody got hurt,” he said. “Shortly thereafter, we noticed some structural damage, mostly located near the very end of the pier.”

A boat ramp used by oil platform workers employed by Oxnard-based DCOR, LLC, was ripped from the pier during Thursday night’s storm while other portions of the structure were damaged.

“A big wave came and took it away,” Nicholas said of the ramp. “There were pylons that got knocked off as well — one of them washed up on shore.”

A pylon on the Seal Beach Pier, seen Friday, was one of several washed away by Thursday night’s high surf.

(Courtesy of Seal Beach Police Department)

A beach parking lot located off 8th Street flooded on Thursday night, although no vehicles are thought to have suffered water damage. A public works crew was called to the scene Friday to dig nearby drainage ditches.

On the beach, a mammoth berm of sand withstood the impact of waves and prevented the encroachment of water to coastal areas.

Nicholas said an engineering team would evaluate the integrity of the pier to learn the extent of the damage and that the structure would not be reopened until it had been repaired and deemed safe for use.

Updates will be provided as more information becomes available. Interested residents may sign up to receive real-time updates and alerts by visiting nixle.com or texting their ZIP code to 888777.

Standing water sits in the parking lot north of Seal Beach Pier on Friday.

(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

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