Surf warning Sunshine Coast: 172 rescued from dangerous beaches

Hazardous swells of 7m offshore and abnormally high tides whipped up by ex-Tropical Cyclone Seth have created havoc for Sunshine Coast beachgoers. See the photos and video

More than 170 people, including eight children, have been saved from dangerous waters on the Sunshine Coast in recent days after an abnormally high tide and ex-Tropical Cyclone Seth created havoc across the region.

Surf Lifesaving Queensland said there were 172 rescues performed since January 1 with more than 580,000 visitors flocking to Sunshine Coast beaches.

The rescues came despite dozens of beaches being closed in the past week.

Some of the rescues included a man pulled unresponsive from waters off Noosa Heads on Wednesday morning while eight children were saved from waters off Currimundi on Monday.

The man, aged in his 40s, was taken in a stable condition to Sunshine Coast University Hospital following the near drowning at Noosa.

Surf’s Up: Monster swells hammer the Sunshine Coast

VIEW GALLERY

The weather bureau said the treacherous conditions were caused by a combination of “astronomical high tides” and ex-tropical cyclone Seth.

National forecaster Helen Reid said Monday was the peak for surfing with pumping conditions offshore.

“In general, the waves averaged about 3m offshore, but they got up to about 5-6m and one was reported to hit 7m,” Ms Reid said.

“It was pretty powerful in terms of tide. There were some big waves offshore and places were inundated.”

Mooloolaba’s tide peaked at 2.33m about 8.30am on Monday at 17cm above the astronomical tide while Noosa peaked at 1.46m at 27cm above the astronomical tide.

Ms Reid said there were widespread rainfall totals of about 50-70cm across the region over the past week including 41mm at Noosaville and 65mm at Maroochydore.

Warnings were issued for strong wind gusts, abnormally high tides and hazardous surf which were predicted to weaken by Thursday.

Surging seas lashed Bribie Island on Tuesday which created a second bar into the Pumicestone Passage and Golden Beach.

Bradman Ave, Maroochydore was flooded by the heavy conditions on Monday.

And heavy erosion was reported Maroochy North Shore dog beach near Mudjimba.

Nine-year-old Timer Vincent rides his bike through the king tide on Bradman Ave at Maroochydore. Picture: Lachie Millard

A Coolum Beach Surf Lifesaving spokesman described Tuesday’s conditions as “dramatic”.

“You’ve got people trying to swim and this morning we had super high tides, everyone was back on the sand dunes, the beach had been completely wiped with a cross wind heading up towards Noosa,” the spokesman said.

Experienced surfers took advantage of the large waves with pro Julian Wilson being spotted at Coolum Beach.

“It has been unreal, yesterday and today at Coolum the wind turned off shore which allowed everyone to stop gathering at Noosa and started to offer bigger waves for more experienced surfers with bigger boards to come out and surf,” the spokesman said.

“That’s great, but the problem with that is when things go wrong, they go very wrong.”

The weather bureau said forecasts would depend on the movements of ex-TC Seth, however, showers and possible thunderstorms have been predicted for the region in coming days.