High tide and erosion force red and yellow flags at Ocean Beach to retreat

WELCOME to Ocean Beach where you can lay your towel out in the car park and step straight into the surf with no messing around with pesky sand at all.

The red and yellow flags are placed so far up Ocean Beach during high tide because of erosion they might as well be in the car park. Picture: supplied.

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WELCOME to Ocean Beach where you can lay your towel out in the car park and step straight into the surf with no messing around with pesky sand at all.

This was almost the situation facing swimmers this morning with the high tide and recent erosion forcing lifeguards to erect the red and yellow flags so far up the dunes they were adjacent to the car park.

The red and yellow flags were placed at the edge of the dunes beside the car park at high tide. Picture: supplied.

Peninsula Chamber of Commerce president Matthew Wales said recent works to scrape sand off the beach to restore the dunes had created a situation at high tide where there was almost no beach left at all.

He said the sand should have been scraped the other way, down off the dunes to the water’s edge to create a more gentle slope, which would allow the sand to build up again naturally.

Swimmer Cathy Hoeben at Ocean Beach. The high tide was so high lifeguards placed the flags in the sand dunes (AAP image/ Mark Scott)

Erosion has cause major problems at Ocean Beach. (AAP image/ Mark Scott)

There’s almost no beach at Ocean Beach. (AAP image/ Mark Scott)

Mr Wales said this would involve the loss of some of the vegetation at the top of the dunes but Central Coast Council would not do it because “the greenies would go ballistic”.

“At the moment the high tide gets to a point and it starts eating away the dunes,” he said.

The 2m high tide this morning made it difficult for beachgoers to walk along the beach without getting inundated.

Despite the lack of sand lifeguards kept the beach open.

This morning’s high tide at Ocean Beach. (AAP image/ Mark Scott)