A part of the Santa Cruz Wharf collapsed Monday afternoon during a high-surf warning, with authorities confirming two people had to be pulled from the water.

Santa Cruz city officials are keeping climate change in mind as they plan repairs to the Santa Cruz Wharf after pounding surf collapsed a section of the popular tourist attraction.

Three people were rescued from the wharf. The powerful surf also fatally trapped a man under debris on a beach in Santa Cruz, the authorities said.

Three people fell into the water when more than a hundred feet of the Santa Cruz Wharf collapsed into the Pacific Ocean on Monday, as the coastal city was pounded with dangerous high surf.

Persistent high surf and flooding threats along California’s coast have residents on high alert a day after a major storm was blamed for one man’s death and the partial collapse of a pier, which propelled three people into the Pacific Ocean.

Storms slammed California’s central coast on Monday, causing high surf that tossed three people into the water and partially collapsed a pier in Santa Cruz.

A witness, just 20 yards away, recounted the moments when several massive waves slammed into the pilings of the Santa Cruz Wharf, sending the end of the wharf and three people into the ocean.

Drone video from Monday (December 23) showed a portion of the Santa Cruz Wharf in Santa Cruz, California that collapsed after it was hit by strong waves.