(WSVN) - Tropical system Nicole left her mark on Broward County’s coast. A huge portion of the Anglin’s Fishing Pier come down during the storm, as massive waves continued crashing onto the beach in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Thursday.
7News drone footage showed the destruction from above, as wood planks were left scattered, and the pier was split in half.
Ej Wojtowicz captured the wild waves carrying driftwood from the pier blocks away. He and his two children witnessed the storm as it was happening.
“The water was just exploding over that second fish house that you see out there. It was just one after the other, so I think, basically, took the boards right off the concrete pilings,” Wojtowicz said.
The pier was already undergoing repairs. The pier sustained damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017, and much of the pier, from the middle to the end, had been closed to the public ever since.
People told 7News it’s been in bad shape.
“I’ve actually surfed under this pier, you know. I’ve seen these pylons for years and years just deteriorating,” Brian Kuszmer said.
Owner Spiro Marchelos, however, said Mother Nature took her toll.
“It’s gonna be rebuilt, and we’ll do it right,” Marchelos said. “We have city officials, and they’re all trying to help and make sure everything is all right, and that’s it. We’re here to make everything work, and God willing, we’ll get everything done. It’s gonna take some time.”
Meanwhile, other piers suffered similar fates.
The surf damaged the T-section of the Deerfield Beach International Fishing Pier.
“Mother Nature is an unbelievable force. It is incredible the damage that we’ve gotten at the end of our pier,” said Deerfield Beach Mayor Bill Ganz.
Railings were torn off by wicked waves, and planks were also broken.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen it, in my 26 years,” said a man as he recorded cellphone video of the damage.
The city’s cameras captured the moment the pier took the first bad blow.
Ganz said engineers are looking at it now.
“We have some serious structural damage on it. We’re making evaluations on that now,” Ganz said. “We’re going to shore up what we can with the pier, and make sure we have at least a portion of it opened relatively soon.”
However, Ganz expects repairs will take months to be completed.
“When you look at the wooded damage that’s down there, when you see major bolts and everything completely flattened, it is truly impressive, and it’s major damage,” said the mayor, “and it’s the type of damage that we’ve really never seen on our pier like this.”
People checking out all the damage said they hope repairs are done quickly.
“It’s a little sad to see it down,” said Lauderdale-by-the-Sea resident Merrilee Evans.
How long it will take to repair those piers remains unclear.
Down in Hollywood Beach, cleanup crews on Tuesday afternoon worked to get streets back to normal after sand and water stirred up by the storm made a mess of things.
Some water got into a nearby business. Its staff said they’re thankful they boarded up and placed sandbags out front the day before the hurricane’s outer bands battered the area.
“Actually, we thought it was going to be worse, so we are glad it wasn’t that bad,” said manager Nabhil Mileanes.
Wednesday night, cameras captured high tide flooding part of the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk.
“High tide was around 9:30-ish, so we knew it was going to get worse, and it did,” said a resident.
A mix of storm surge and king tides caused big problems for drivers as well, after major roads were flooded.
“We’re down here all the time. I’ve never seen the surf like this,” said Michael Flannery, who is visiting from Connecticut.
Cleanup efforts are also underway in Fort Lauderdale.
South of the county lines, crews in Miami Beach pulled a lifeguard stand away from the water.
The main problem was beach erosion. Nicole’s strength pushed seawater onto main roads, even in South Florida.
Thursday night, things appeared to go back to normal in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Patrons were seen flocking to local restaurants as live music played nearby.
“We come here five times a month: evening dinner, cocktails,” said visitor Dana Beharry. “All the buildings are new, and the pavement’s new, and everything is painted in bright colors.”
Anglin’s Pier’s history is celebrated in the beach cafe at the entrance to the 81-year-old structure, which was built by the city’s first mayor.
“Anglin’s Pier was just a little piece of history here in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea,” said Beharry, “and I think we all knew that it was probably going to suffer some damage, ’cause it’s one of the last piers to be redeveloped.”
Although the pier is privately owned, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Mayor Chris Vincent said the city will help in any way it can.
Over in Pompano Beach, it was certainly a sight to see along the shore, Thursday afternoon.
7Skyforce hovered over the scene where a massive 50-foot boat washed ashore Thursday morning just yards away from the Hillsboro Inlet Lighthouse.
Onlookers jumped at the chance to take photos. Some even livestreamed their experience on social media as they surveyed the aftermath of Nicole.
Locals who live here told 7News this is not the first time they’ve seen a boat come ashore.
“This boat is in my backyard. It’s never here,” said John Guliano, who spotted the boat on the beach. “It washed up. I was looking at the numbers. It’s got current numbers, so people were saying it was abandoned, but it’s got an ’03 registration, so it was current.”
“This is the third boat I’ve seen washed up here this year. The other two hit the reefs out here. This one, I don’t know what happened,” said Steve Baeumel, who spotted the boat on the beach.
The City of Pompano Beach told 7News that the owner of the massive vessel is in prison. Right now, officials are working to contact the owner so that they can remove the boat.
They will have to sign a waiver and then the city can tow it and likely scrap the vessel.
Broward County deputies have, meanwhile, put up yellow caution tape around the boat.
No one was injured when the boat washed ashore.
Some people are thinking about the damage and the clean-up in communities that were closer to the path of Hurricane Nicole.
“I’ve seen a lot of hurricanes and the poor people up north of us, that’s all I have to say, in the Daytona area, it looks like they’re getting slammed pretty hard,” said Baeumel.
Officials said it will take crews several days to remove the debris and sand in local beach communities. In Hollywood Beach, crews said it will take them one to two says to flatten all the sand along the beach.
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