Des Moines Public Works crews continued to clear debris and other hazards from the Redondo Beach boardwalk on Monday after strong arctic winds and waves damaged the walkway on Saturday.

“We’ve had instances in the past where some of the planks will pop loose — but this particular event caused much more damage than we’ve ever seen,” said Dan Brewer, Public Works director. “I was just astonished at how extensive the damages were, where we had steel that was mangled and twisted from the force of the waves.”

A combination of gusty winds and a high tide sent waves crashing over the boardwalk and across Redondo Beach Drive with enough force to knock out parts of the seawall in some residents’ yards.

Most of the planks came loose or broke and some of the steel support systems beneath the boardwalk also failed. Crews worked on Monday to demolish two of those support systems “so they don’t end up falling on anybody,” Brewer said.

The city closed Redondo Beach Drive on Saturday due to the flooding and windy weather. The boardwalk remains closed.

“The storm demonstrated how fragile the thing is,” said Des Moines Mayor Dave Kaplan of the boardwalk, adding he was thankful Highline College’s Marine Science and Technology Center was not damaged.

Salty’s waterfront restaurant, however, did sustain some damages, a restaurant manager said. The restaurant was unable to serve lunch on Saturday due to several glass deck panels along the front of the restaurant that were shattered. Some of the deck boards at Salty’s were also torn up but the restaurant is currently open for business.

Kaplan said there are some long-term maintenance issues with the boardwalk that the city needs to address “and we were trying to figure out how to do that as part of our capital planning.”

He added the city is “blessed” with five miles of waterfront and has more public access to the Puget Sound than most cities around.

“People love being able to use the boardwalk and it’s a sad state of affairs that it’ll be a while before they get to do that again,” Kaplan said.

Brewer anticipates the city will be able to reopen the northern half of the boardwalk within the next couple of months. However, he said the southern half south of 287th Street “has sustained considerable damage and it’s going to take a long time to re-open that.”

An engineer has yet to determine the total extent of damages, but Brewer estimates it will cost the city “in the hundreds of thousands of dollars” to fix the boardwalk.

Tony Piasecki, city manager, said the boardwalk is not covered under the city’s property insurance. The city does not have any emergency reserve funds to cover the cost of repair, but Piasecki said they may be able to use some transportation funds.

The city will also explore trying to obtain federal funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as state funding.

Rep. Linda Kochmar, R-Federal Way, went to Redondo Beach on Saturday to see the damages and speak with property owners. She has also been in touch with Des Moines officials.

“I don’t have an answer yet,” Kochmar said. “I’m not sure what we’ll be able to get but I will certainly be exploring it.”

This is not the first time Redondo Beach has sustained damages.

A heavy winter storm in 1990 washed out part of Redondo Beach Road South, causing the road to close for four years when the area was part of unincorporated King County, city officials said. The county built a new seawall and boardwalk before Des Moines eventually incorporated the property.

“You can’t prepare for these storms; there’s not much you can do about them,” Kaplan said. “All you can do is try to make things whole again. Our city has struggled financially for a number of years … and this just adds another challenge for us that we didn’t need.”

Photos courtesy of Bruce Honda and Rep. Linda Kochmar, R-Federal Way.