Part of White Rock promenade set to reopen Thursday

Part of the promenade in White Rock that was closed following the windstorm in December is set to reopen on Thursday.

White Rock Mayor Darryl Walker says the promenade west of the big white rock on the beach will reopen later.

“We’re going to be able to reopen the promenade from effectively the white rock through to the pier and on down west beach so for the first time in more than a month, people are able to get down to the white rock. It’ll make it easier to get down onto the beach and so on,” he told CKNW.

Walker said the promenade east of the white rock towards Semiahmoo First Nations land will remain closed as it’s still not safe, he says, in terms of the underwash that cut so badly into the banks.

On Dec. 20, at around 2 p.m., a number of sailboats broke free from their mooring due to a windstorm and blew into the pier, according to witnesses.

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Photographer Leslie Achtymichuk, who lives nearby, said she went to see what was going on when her barbecue blew away in the wind, and saw waves topping the breakwaters in the bay.

“Half of the sailboats broke loose and they just started flying in the air a bit and finally slamming into the pier, and there was a guy trapped on the other side,” she said in December.

Victoria Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre spokesperson Katelyn Moores said a helicopter crew was also able to successfully rescue a man just after 3:30 p.m., after a portion of the pier collapsed into the sea in the storm.

WATCH: Coverage of the December windstorm in White Rock on Globalnews.ca

2:07 Cost estimate to rebuild the damaged White Rock pier triples

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• Dramatic escape from collapsed White Rock pier
• Chopper rescue of man off White Rock pier during storm

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— with files from Simon Little