Watsonville man identified as person killed by debris washed ashore in storm
A Watsonville man who died after he was trapped by debris washed up by high surf along a Santa Cruz County beach during last week's storm has been identified.
David Koons, 64, became trapped at Sunset State Beach near Watsonville, after a large wave washed debris ashore about 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 23, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office.
Koons was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to sheriff's spokesperson Ashley Keehn.
The high surf was generated by recent storms that battered the coast last week and also led to the partial collapse of the the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf.
Santa Cruz Fire confirmed two people needed assistance being pulled from the water by life guards and a third person was able to get out of the surf on their own without help.
As of Friday, clean-up efforts in the area around the wharf continued. The wharf itself and a number of Santa Cruz beaches remained closed due to safety issues. Santa Cruz officials were continuing to assess the damage as they try to determine when the remaining section of the wharf might reopen.
When asked about plans to rebuild the 150-foot section that broke off in the storm, Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keely acknowledged that remains an open question given the growing risks posed by climate change.
"We'd be irresponsible if we didn't ask the question what is the right thing to do here," said Keely. "But to say we're simply going to put it back is, I think, frankly much more risky and irresponsible than having a very serious conversation."
On Sunday, retired Santa Cruz Wharf supervisor Jon Bombaci told CBS News Bay Area he has been telling city leaders about the risk of the wharf's collapse for years.
Bombaci worked for decades on the wharf, serving his last 11 years as wharf supervisor before retiring in 2021. He said old steel fasteners had been loosening and the structure had been slowly breaking apart for years, losing its "sheer," which is its ability to withstand the force of the water coming from the sides.
"There has to be structural integrity there or everything starts to move independently," he explained. "My immediate thought was this is just a tragic unforced error. Because we had a plan in place back in 2013 to prevent exactly this."
Bombaci said they had a proposal ready to go -- with funding -- that would have widened the pier, adding a pedestrian walkway on each side, but California Environmental Quality Act lawsuits filed by a small group of residents stalled the project.
When the California Coastal Commission gave tentative approval, it restricted construction to only stormy winter months to protect nesting seagulls.
