Motorist drives onto beach amid monstrous surf

A foolhardy motorist has put his life at risk after driving onto a Gold Coast beach being pounded by monstrous seas.

A foolhardy motorist has put his life at risk after driving onto a Gold Coast beach being pounded by monstrous seas.

The man in a 4WD ute drove onto Currumbin beach Tuesday morning as the high tide surged and waves rushed around the vehicle and through the adjoining Currumbin Vikings Surf Club carpark.

The ute surrounded by water at Currumbin.

Surf club president John Brennan slammed the actions of the motorist, who had to be towed off the beach and out of trouble.

“Water was gushing through the club carpark and this guy’s just driven straight onto the beach for some reason - you can’t help stupidity,” he said.

“The side of the beach he drove onto is like quicksand and his wheels were well and truly in the water.”

Mr Brennan said other vehicles managed to tow the ute out of danger.

He said conditions at Currumbin were “absolutely treacherous” and only set to get worse as Cyclone Alfred marches closer towards the coast.

The ute had to be towed.

“We haven’t seen the worst of it - it’s only going to get wilder,” he said.

“Being smack-bang on the beach, the club becomes an island around high tide in these conditions and we’ve sandbagged as best we can and moved all the IRBs and competitors’ craft out of the club to higher ground.”

Mr Brennan said the popular club might be forced to close if conditions worsened on Thursday and Friday.

“The risk might be too high for the public, not to mention our staff, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on conditions,” he said.

He said a new multimillion dollar Oceanway widening and rock wall stabilisation project - meant to be finished this month - was taking a pounding.

The project, which forced the closure of part of the surf club carpark, has smashed the club’s revenue and Mr Brennan said he hoped the cyclone impacts would not lead to further delays ahead of next month’s Anzac Day ceremony at Elephant Rock.

Originally published as Motorist drives onto beach amid monstrous surf