PACIFICA — The city manager of Pacifica declared a local emergency Friday in response to El Niño storms that have damaged the municipal pier, eaten away part of a sea wall that protects Beach Boulevard, and threatened the safety of blufftop homes.
Acting as the city’s director of emergency services, City Manager Lori Tinfow announced the coastal community will “need state and federal assistance to respond to the growing list of failing public infrastructure.” The City Council is expected to ratify the emergency declaration on Monday.
The city notified two property owners in the past 10 days that their buildings were not safe to inhabit, and the city is keeping a close eye on properties on Esplanade and Palmetto avenues, Tinfow said in a news release.
Heavy winter storms have posed a threat for years to homes sitting on a bluff on the northern edge of Pacifica. The city evacuated a pair of apartment buildings at 320 and 330 Esplanade during the winter of 2009-2010. Now the building at 310 Esplanade is at risk, Tinfow said.
Sections of the sea wall protecting homes along Beach Boulevard near Pacifica Pier have begun to fail during the past week. Workers using excavators have reinforced damaged portions of the wall and sidewalk with boulders, but conditions have continued to deteriorate.
Mayor Sue Digre said the waves in recent weeks have been relentless, longer from north to south than any she’s seen during her 25 years of living in Pacifica.
“Just watching the ferocity and strength of these long waves, the damage that they can do and the number of spots we can be hit … we’re going to need assistance,” she said. “I think everyone should be on alert.”
When the water recedes after each wave crashes, Digre added, it pulls at the sea wall like “wiggling a loose tooth.”
Contact Aaron Kinney at 650-348-4357. Follow him at Twitter.com/kinneytimes.
