Wamberal Beach erosion: Rock bags prevent further erosion as wild weather continues
Emergency works involving the placement of hundreds of tonnes of rock and rock bags at the toe of Wamberal properties teetering on the brink of collapse is doing what residents have long been told was “impossible”.
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Wamberal Beach residents have woken to the news that the rock bags and giant rocks are doing the job to prevent further erosion … so far.
However, dangerous surf conditions predicted throughout today will continue to test emergency works at the site with many beachfront houses still teetering on the edge of collapse.
Wild weather and rough seas saw many of the evacuated residents go to bed last night unsure of whether their house would still be standing this morning.
But they are and Ocean Beach Rd resident Warren Hughes has pointed out that the intervention beachfront residents have desperately been seeking over the years has worked.
“Walls, bags, rocks, cranes and excavators are all doing exactly what we were told was impossible,” he told councillors at last night’s meeting.
“For years now the good folk of Wamberal have pleaded with council to simply afford at the residents’ expense the opportunity to place suitably approved and engineeringly-sound protections at the ocean toe of their properties.
“It has been met at every turn with frustration. Now fast-forward after the devastating storm that has put at risk many lives and homes and we now, frustratingly, see action on our foreshore.
“What happened to all the reasons that we could not possibly use materials to protect our properties? What happened to this ‘cannot happen attitude’ on the back of council’s planned retreat policy excuse? Well councillors, despite all of this nonsense, it happened.”
Mr Hughes made it clear that his comments were directed towards councillors, not senior staff, and said “this is what planned retreat looks like”.
The weather has stopped any works at the site over the past two days, however the council hopes to be able to get back to emergency works on Wednesday.
The council’s chief executive officer Gary Murphy said staff has done an amazing job in the lead up to the wild weather to “prepare for their worst but expect the best” with affected properties being closely monitored.
He said four tonne rock bags from Japan were on standby with works to resume as soon as possible.
“We will know more in the next 48 hours,” he said.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, there’s still some bad weather coming.”
the council’s director of planning and environment Scott Cox said prior to the wild weather, staff had managed to put several hundred rock bags in place as well as rocks at the south end of the beach.
He said the southern end, including properties on Pacific St, was on council’s radar due to the direction of the swells.
Mr Cox said a stage two risk assessment would be carried out on affected properties on Thursday.
At Monday night’s meeting, councillors voted to acknowledge everyone’s efforts during the disaster, request an update from Local Recovery Coordinator Lee Shearer and invite affected residents to join a coast and catchments committee.
Cr Greg Best said the disaster was avoidable.
“It didn’t need to come to this,” he said.
“This is going to cost so much and it’s going to be a dog’s breakfast.”
Mr Murphy has previously outlined that a seawall has been approved at the site and design works will be presented to residents in the coming weeks.
The swell has dropped a bit from yesterday but remains a concern along with further heavy rains, which could cause further land slips from above the emergency toe wall.
There was an excavator on the southern end of the emergency works Tuesday morning with two workers inspecting the rock bags, which appear to have held up during the overnight high tide.