Inskip Point roads washed away as ex-cyclone Seth makes high tides worse

Campers have been left stranded and roads have been washed away as the Cooloola coastline and its popular holiday areas are impacted by higher than expected tides.

Campers along the Cooloola coastline have been caught out as ex-tropical cyclone Seth continues to wreak havoc on the coastline with tides at Noosa exceeding their maximum expected height.

Businesses and guests along the length of the popular tourist spot have shared images of stranded campers and roads being eaten away.

Footage shared by Cooloola Sails showed two buses driving through waves at Inskip Point to reach the barge to Fraser Island.

The tides exceeded the expected maximum level by 20cm.

Social media users said the stretch covered by the buses was usually only sand.

The road to the point itself was faring little better; a post on the Cooloola Sails page said the roads were “half washed away”.

A bus drives through water at Inskip Point to reach the barge to Fraser Island in video captured by Cooloola Sails.

“Water is making it’s way across the road, under waiting cars and into the gulleys on the other side,” the post said.

“No-one is running the gauntlet today.”

At Tin Can Bay the water was breaking the banks along the foreshore thanks to a king tide, with water across the road leading to Norman Point and inundating the car park at the Dolphin Centre.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Harry Clark said the normally high tides expected this time of year and the low pressure system sitting off the coast had created “a relatively significant anomaly”.

At Noosa, about 50km south and one of the closest areas where the BOM measures tides, he said water levels had reached 1.7m, well above the 1.52m expected.

Tides were expected to drop in the next few days even with the system moving towards to coastline and expected to cross between Bundaberg and Brisbane, Mr Clark said.

“By the time it reaches (the coast) it will be quite weak,” Mr Clark said.

In the meantime he advised people heading to the coastline to “pay due care and attention”.

“Be mindful of the potential for erosion,” he said.

“Surf Life Saving definitely recommends people stay out of the water (with the big surf).”