Bribie Island on verge of splitting after wild weather battering

Bribie Island could be one storm away from being torn apart, eventually splitting into five or six separate landforms, experts say.

Bribie Island could be one storm away from being torn apart, after a week of cyclonic weather accelerated a decade-long erosion problem.

The northern end of Moreton Bay’s crown jewel was holding on by mere tree roots after being ­battered for days by hazardous surf and high tides.

Boaties yesterday told of mini whirlpools forming in the Pumicestone Passage, while experts said that they were yet to determine exactly how the tidal changes would impact the Golden Beach ­esplanade.

The extent of the damage was revealed in aerial images that showed the tide spilling through holes in the island into the Pumicestone Passage.

The Department of Environment and Science attributed the issue to a decade-long erosion problem that had been exacerbated by the days of cyclonic weather.

“The dunes have got so narrow from previous erosion events that they were just waiting for the big event to come along and overwash those dunes,” principal coastal scientist Sel Sultmann said.

“That’s what we saw on Monday.”

Aerial drone photography captures the huge seas breaking through the northern tip of Bribie Island. Picture: Zane Jones

It is too early to know whether the changes will ­affect Golden Beach or the dozens of mansions on the esplanade, but Mr Sultmann said the width of Pumicestone Passage may reduce the impact on the popular strip.

“We’ll just continue to monitor and assess the situation, but the priority is to keep people away and keep people safe,” Mr Sultmann said.

“It may recover after this event, but the long-term ­erosion process is going to continue and it’s most likely that Bribie Island will break through between Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage this year and the next few years.”

Coastal engineering expert David Campbell said it could take up to three significant weather events to break through the tip, but when the break eventually happened, it would likely be in several inlets through the northern tip.

“It won’t split into two, it’s more likely to split into five or six, so on Monday when it was overtopping there was a series of places overtopping,” Dr Campbell said.

“We did some modelling last year to look at how big the openings would need to be to get some impacts on Golden Beach, and they’d need to be several hundred meters wide and also well below the mean water level to actually have an impact in the short term.”

Caloundra Coast Guard’s Peter Diezmann yesterday. Picture: Patrick Woods

Bill’s Boat Hire has been forced to temporarily suspend business, while authorities urge boaties to stay away from the eroding “chasm” in the northern tip of Bribie Island.

“For us, it means that sending people to Bribie Island to that destination, that’s not longer an option. I think what we will be suggesting to people now is feel free to ­anchor off the island,” owner Kerrie Chandler said.

“We’re in the beginning of what is normally our busiest period, but now we are closed as a result of the breakthrough and all of the debris coming down through the passage.

“This is quite a chasm.”

Flotilla Commander Caloundra Coast Guard Roger Pearce said yesterday the island was being held together by tree roots, and having two openings to Pumicestone Passage would be crazy.

Sunshine Coast Regional Council maintained the island had not been officially broken through, and it would conduct “beach renourishment … and the upgrade or new construction of protection structures such as rock walls and groynes” where necessary at Golden Beach.

“Bribie Island ... is managed by the Queensland Government, and any dredging, construction or renourishment works would be subject to Queensland Government approval,” council’s coastal constructed water bodies and planning manager Michael Anderson said.