Owner of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea pier damaged by storm vows to rebuild
FORT LAUDERDALE -Wind-whipped water from what was Hurricane Nicole combined with crashing waves caused a section of Anglin's Fishing Pier in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea to collapse.
The pier was built in 1941 and after a section of it collapsed about 20 years later, it was rebuilt in 1963 and again in 2017 after it sustained damage from Hurricane Irma.
"Anglin's Fishing Pier is such an iconic landmark in our town, and seeing it damaged is heartbreaking. While the pier is privately owned, I know our town will do what we can to support the property owner in the coming days and months," said Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Mayor Chris Vincent.
Some locals said that the pier itself was in bad shape and they weren't surprised it happened. Spiro Marchelos, who owns the pier, said he's going to fix it and people will be able to use it again, hopefully soon.
"We cannot compete against Mother Nature. We're here to make corrections to bring back the pier to life. This is a historic pier. We will rebuild and fix it. How long will it take? It depends on everything, permits, and there's a supply shortage right now. We were fixing the pier and there was a supply shortage," he said.
A man said he was on the beach with his son around 11 p.m. when he saw the wave crashing extremely hard against the pier. That's when he saw the surge destroy a section of it.
"At about 11:30 p.m., I saw that, in a matter of five minutes the ocean went from empty to all of a sudden, very large boards were drifting really fast south, as they were going down, large pieces were tumbling in the waves. It's sad. I've lived here for 25 years, took the kids fishing out there, you know the pier has needed some work for a while," said E.J. Wojtowicz.
Marc Klein said "It is just amazing. The conditions ripped it apart. The storm surge was impressive."
A man who was out early said he takes his dog for a walk on the pier every day and was sad to see what happened.
"She used to walk that pier all the time and now it's gone. I used to fish on it when I was little, like a while back, and they were just rebuilding the whole pier right there and like two, one o'clock, the waves were all the way up to the beach side. Now there is no more sand. It was like 43 steps out toward the beach and now there is no more dunes," he said.
Workers were out in the pre-dawn hours assessing the damage to the pier and securing what they could.
CBS4'S Peter D'Oench learned that crews also visited other piers in Broward to see if there was damage.
Railings at the end of the pier were torn off at the Deerfield Beach International Fishing Pier and the storm also damaged many planks. Engineers were out early Thursday checking on structural integrity. Mayor Bill Ganz said it could be at least 5 months before the front of the pier was reopened to the public. "When you look at the damage there with major bolts and everything, some parts were completely flattened. It was truly impressive and IU have never seen anything like it. We can take a beating but we will come on back. We are assessing the damage."
Dania Beach City Manager Ana Garcia said crews went to the Dania Beach International Fishing Pier early Thursday and contractors were there as well. No serious problems were reported. She said the city had invested more than $1 million on the pier and for drainage and key infrastructure projects.
The City Manager said crews have been working non-stop after the storm which forced the city to close the beach by the Dania Beach pier.
She said, "Our goal is to open the beach before Saturday but we have miles to go before we sleep. The damage of the wind was minimal but the impact of the storm surge was powerful and impactful and the storm hit us really hard."
A spokeswoman for Pompano Beach said the city's facilities maintenance division conducts monthly inspections and makes repairs as needed. She said the new pier is higher and is designed to be more sustainable. The deck is made to pop off in a storm.