Part of sea wall collapses into East River

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Was it wear and tear or just a freak accident?

Those are the questions being asked after a sea wall suddenly collapsed into the East River right behind Gracie Mansion.

The video here shows the fencing, barricades chunks of rock all 10 to 15 feet down there in the water.

Officials aren't sure what caused it or really when exactly it even happened during the weekend. The best guess: the long-term wear and tear on the old structure combined with the storms from the past few days resulted in the collapse.

Board Chair of the Friends of the East River Esplanade Jennifer Ratner called on the mayor and the city to pay up to keep the aging piece of greenway running.

It's in an area with known infrastructure weaknesses along much of the waterfront, so it's a real safety issue along the esplanade.

"The price just keeps rising the longer it takes to do the repairs - so I think the mayor and the city have to get behind this waterfront so this piece of the greenway doesn't fall in before the rest of it is completed," Ratner said.

This isn't the first example of something like this happening - folks that run or walk up the area have said sink holes and chunks in the cement are common.

Recently, Mayor de Blasio announced $100 million in funding to expand the East River Esplanade further downtown. However, that money would not go toward fixing the existing structure but building new ones instead.