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SAN DIEGO — The Ocean Beach Pier is closed again as San Diego gears up for the next round of storms.
The pier is shut down indefinitely as several storms are expected to hit Tuesday and next week.
Dramatic images were captured by Drone 5 on Friday showing the surf so high and waves so powerful they ripped off a railing from the OB Pier.
“This is a bolt that holds down a piece of hardware that holds a railing structure,” local photographer Jim Grant said. “So this had decayed and when the railing structure was flexing and moving, it broke it off.”
Grant snapped several photos of the damage sustained once again by the aging pier as more storms threaten its survival.
“The one side where the waves were hitting, it pushed all the railing off,” Grant said. “It broke off some of the hardware, snapped off some of the bolts, pushed a lot of the lumber across the pier. It moved 300-pound trash cans and 400-pound benches so there was a lot of water and it did quite a bit of damage.”
Lifeguards had to shut down the pier last Thursday during a High Surf Advisory and have kept it closed as more storms are expected this week and next week.
“Any time the pier’s shut down it’s because there’s a storm or inclement weather and we’re a lot slower,” said Marc Winkler of OB Brewery. “A lot less people are out here at the beach because the weather drives them off.”
Winkler says during these storms the restaurant takes a financial hit.
“Oh my gosh, probably 20% of what our summer sales are, if not less,” Winkler said.
The City of San Diego released a statement saying in part:
“City crews have observed damage caused by the most recent storm, and additional storms that could cause further damage to the pier are forecasted this week and next week. As a result, the City will wait to assess the pier’s condition until after the storm season has passed.”
“We should put money into it but I also think we should take into consideration, like the taxpayers, what we’re paying and what actually we’re able to do as a community to keep it open,” Winkler said.
Back in September, the city council approved plans to move forward with a company to replace the pier. Construction is expected to begin in 2026.
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