Three city workers were rescued from the sea when the Santa Cruz Wharf partially collapsed on Monday, December 23rd.

Severe weather had already led to flooding, road closures and evacuations across the coastal area before part of the city’s wharf collapsed into the Pacific Ocean at around 12:45 p.m. local time.

The sudden collapse was caused by “very strong waves,” Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley said in a briefing, ABC News reported.

“We believe everyone who went into the water is now accounted for and safe,” he added.

No one was seriously injured as lifeguards were able to help two people out of the water and a third swam to safety.

According to the Associated Press, the trio were two engineers and a project manager who had inspected the end of the wharf.

No members of the public were present at the time as the building is currently undergoing a $4 million renovation following severe storms last winter.

According to the AP, Tony Elliot, head of the Santa Cruz Parks & Recreation Department, estimated that about 150 feet of the end of the wharf fell into the water.

Public restrooms and the closed Dolphin Restaurant are among the parts of the wharf that floated along the shore and lay at the bottom of the San Lorenzo River.

“It’s a disaster for those at the end of the wharf,” David Johnston, who was allowed onto the pier to check on his business, told the AP.

Mayor Keeley warned that the pier’s pilings posed “significant hazards” to boats, the outlet added. Each post weighs hundreds of pounds and is pushed down by powerful waves.

The National Weather Service in the Bay Area advised people to stay away from the location because of “life-threatening beach conditions.”

“You risk your life and the lives of others when you are in or too close to water,” the Bay Area office of the National Weather Service wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

According to ABC News, the wharf remains closed pending an investigation into its structural integrity.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom is “coordinating with local officials and stands ready to provide assistance,” according to an X post from his office.

At 4:15 p.m. local time on Monday, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation order citing “heavy waves and high tides.”

They wrote a Facebook post advising residents living within 3 miles south of Santa Cruz to “evacuate immediately.”