Residents are pushing forward with life saving measures to stop washing their homes away

Wamberal residents are calling for emergency measures to let them install home-saving rock walls after large seas swallowed their backyards. Others are not waiting for permission.

On Tuesday the Baynie family had a big backyard. By Saturday half of it was gone, eaten by the ocean.

Now a group of Wamberal residents are pleading with authorities to allow them to install hundreds of tonnes of rock so the rest of their lawns (and potentially their houses) aren’t lost too.

Others are so desperate they are building seawalls without council approval.

A king tide of 2.1m combined with 3m swells have this week battered another section of the Central Coast beach, located a stone’s throw from Terrigal.
Four homes have lost large swathes of their backyards, with decks, stairs and lawns all gone.

This was Sadie and her son George Baynie’s Wamberal backyard on Tuesday …

… and this was the yard on Friday, having lost 4m of land. Pictures: Sue Graham

In 2020 there was damage to 40 homes in the middle part of the beach, with kitchen sinks falling away and bedrooms lost.

The state government declared it an emergency, and thousands of tonnes of protective rock was installed.

But those living 150m away have this week not been given the same privileges.

And they’re angry.

“All of us want to protect these homes from destruction but the council is just not listening,” George Baynie, 58, said.

“They tell us to submit a development application if we want to put rocks down. By the time that’s been done we could have lost much more.

“Half our lawn is gone — about 4m. Our neighbour lost a deck.”

George Baynie’s stairs are likely to collapse in the coming days. Picture: Sue Graham

Warren Hughes, whose property has lost 3m, said Central Coast Council have recently released draft guidelines for building a sea wall.

If and when they are passed, most likely at the end of July, owners will need to submit a DA. The majority of owners are in support of this.

“In the past we have submitted DAs only for them to be rejected,” he said.

“All we want is for the council to be reasonable and process these DAs as a matter of urgency.”

Central Coast Council said the NSW SES was on the scene on Friday observing the situation and “have door knocked residents to make them aware of current weather conditions and potential impacts and that they are prepared to evacuate occupants if necessary”

“There is no additional works that can be undertaken within the next 10 days to mitigate risk to homes,” a council spokeswoman said.

“Council does not propose to fund or construct a seawall on behalf of private property owners at Wamberal.”

While the state government can declare a state of emergency for residents – allowing the temporary works – Emergency Services Minister Steph Cook declined to comment.

At The Entrance North, 13km up the coast, others have taken matters into their own hands.

Apartment owner Paul Green’s strata committee had 350 tonnes of rock installed along their beachfront property last month — all without council approval.

In the past two years the group of nine apartments has lost 14m of backyard to the ocean.

North The Entrance beachside resident Paul Green installed 350 tonnes of rock in front of his apartment block one month ago. Picture: Ben Pike

“If we had not got this wall installed we would have lost another 2m in the past week,” he said.

“How long do we wait before the waves are lapping at our back doors?”

Mr Green remains concerned that if the sandbank is lost to La Nina and the large oceans it creates, hundreds of homes behind his will also be wiped out.

A council spokeswoman said “Properties adjacent to the beach at The Entrance North are identified by the NSW state government as being in a significant open coastal hazard area.

“Council is concerned about the ongoing coastal risks presented to these properties, and is currently progressing the development of our new coastal management programs in accordance with the NSW Government Coastal Management Framework,” she said.

“Coastal hazards at significant open coastal hazard locations will be considered as a high priority in the development of this program.”

THE BILL FOR FLOODS KEEPS ON GROWING

As the floodwaters recede, the insurance bill keeps growing — now up to $154 million.

The Insurance Council of Australia is estimating a $154 million loss for the July floods, while the cost of the Northern Rivers floods earlier this year have hit $4.8 billion.

More than 13,000 claims have been lodged for the ­recent flooding in Sydney and the Hunter, including 10,997 property claims and 1943 motor claims.

While flood-impacted residents start to rebuild, recovery centres are providing mental health support, Hawkesbury-Nepean recovery co-ordinator for Resilience NSW Dean Betts said.

“We had over 100 people visit the first day it opened in South Windsor, and we are very much seeing the same people as last time,” Mr Betts said. “It gets emotional, particularly this time round.

“With the fourth flood ­people are highly stressed, they’ve lost everything and a lot of people are struggling so that’s why we have mental health support here.”

More than 1000 people have accessed the centres during this flood event.  While homes are being assessed and cleaned out the state’s roads are in a dire condition after the deluge.

More than 2650 potholes have been repaired on state gov­ernment roads since the start of the month and around 15,500 repaired last month in the regions.

“Since the first wave of ­severe flooding in February-March to the end of June 2022, Transport for NSW has repaired around 65,000 potholes across the state-managed road network,” a Transport for NSW spokeswoman said.

“TfNSW has deployed ­additional crews across the state who are taking every ­opportunity possible, day and night, to access damaged roads as floodwaters continue to ­recede.”

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said roadside assistance call outs for pothole ­related damage have swelled to 6932 this month alone.

by Jessica McSweeney

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