City of Powell River reopened the sea walk on January 19 at 4 pm.
The popular walking attraction was damaged during high northwest wind conditions and high tides on January 7. The sea walk had been closed to the public from that date until repairs and maintenance could be conducted by city crews.
City director of properties, development and communications Scott Randolph said following the reopening, the city has put up signs on areas of the sea walk where it may be a little uneven.
“We prefer people to be careful,” said Randolph. “However, it’s reopened and we’ve cleared all of the debris.
“City crews worked really hard and made a great effort to repair the damage.”
While the sea walk was closed, assessment of the structure was carried out. Randolph said there had been some damage and the city’s structure folks were down there on January 13 assessing it. He added that the city repaired the sea walk as quickly as possible so it could be reopened for the public. He said there was some rip-rap that had to be repaired, which, he understood, wasn’t an easy task.
Randolph said the damage came as a result of some bad weather, combined with the high tide. On January 7 there were powerful northwesterly winds, and coupled with the tide, the Salish Sea damaged parts of the sea walk and left debris scattered.
Randolph said the damage was not unlike similar incidents that occurred on other parts of the coast. He added that the damage was not irreparable so city crews were able to deal with it.
Randolph said while repairs and removal of debris was being undertaken, he had been informed there was still heavy equipment going in and out of the trail area, so the city kept the public away until that was complete.
