A retired Santa Cruz Wharf supervisor said old steel fasteners had been loosening and the structure had been slowly breaking apart for years.

After part of the iconic Santa Cruz Wharf collapsed into the ocean amid powerful waves on Monday, feathered culprits have been found to factor into the pier’s damage: seagulls.

Mayor, while stressing the value of the wharf in the community, says rebuilding without serious discussions would be “irresponsible.”

Cleanup efforts continue at the Santa Cruz Wharf after the collapse during high tide last week. Photos were even captured about an hour before the collapse.

While already on alert because of the high surf that hit the Monterey Bay coast Monday, Santa Cruz Lifeguards Lt. Isiah Mullen and Lt. Sam Hofmann, stationed on a Jet Ski in the water near Cowell

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.

Work to repair last year’s storm damage to the Santa Cruz wharf likely contributed to its partial collapse, raising questions about the pier’s future as climate change fuels more powerful waves.

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.

When the last 150 feet of Santa Cruz’s iconic wharf plummeted into the ocean Monday, city leaders were still grappling with damage it had sustained two years earlier during back-to-back winter storms.