Victor Harbor and Port Elliot to choose as sea levels rise: Lawn bowls or sandy beach?

Two popular seaside towns face a tough choice - Defend the bowls club or save the sandy beach from the rising seas that are lapping at their boundaries.

Victor Harbor and Port Elliot communities will be forced to choose between defending beachfront bowls clubs or saving sandy beaches as sea levels rise, based on scenarios presented to councils.

While political attention is continually focused on sand carting and pumping controversies along Adelaide’s coastline, regional councils responsible for some of the state’s most beloved destinations on the Fleurieu Peninsula and beyond are preparing to battle the effects of climate change.

At Victor Harbor, storm surges are already pounding into the fence of the bowls club on prime beachfront real estate. Experts say a choice will have to be made between much higher, stronger walls to save beachfront infrastructure, or moving it elsewhere to make room for the intruding beaches as sea levels rise.

Parks and carparks behind Middleton Beach will also come under threat within 20-30 years.

Photographs of a minor storm event at Flinders Parade, Victor Harbor, June 25, 2021. Picture: Integrated Coasts

Photographs of a minor storm at Flinders Parade, Victor Harbor, June 25, 2021. Supplied by Director Mark Western.

Consultancy company Integrated Coasts has already completed a study for Alexandrina Council and is now working on another one for Victor Harbor Council.

Director Mark Western has analysed more than 80km of coastline, using aerial and historical photography, to establish the current shoreline position and trends over time to help determine how that might change by 2050, then 2100.

“We are able to identify areas that are likely to be vulnerable in the future, either from flooding or erosion,” he said. “This scenario modelling provides a context for decision making for the councils and the community.

“We hope that the community and the councils will work together to build more resilient coasts, rather than continue to build structures in vulnerable places, or protect structures needlessly.”

The sea walls protecting the clubs and other beachfront amenities – likely to cause the loss of sandy beaches – were among those structures, he said.

At Flinders Parade, Victor Harbor, the sea is already "overtopping" the rock wall and flooding the area. Two images, comparing the current risk of flooding and future risk for 2100 with 1m sea level rise. Source: Integrated Coasts.

Integrated Coasts director Mark Western with Flinders University Coastal Studies Professor Patrick Hesp at Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot, where Alexandrina Council is considering changes to prepare for higher sea levels later this century.

New council masterplans for Port Elliot and Franklin Pde at Victor Harbor would redesign beachfront areas to better manage storms and sea level rise, “so natural beaches can be maintained”.

Flinders University coastal studies expert Patrick Hesp said that depending on factors such as beach slope, a metre of sea level rise could cause the coast to retreat anywhere from a few metres to more than 100m.

“If we armor the beach with sea walls, as the sea level rises (the shoreline) can’t retreat,” he said, adding the power of waves bouncing back off the walls took sand with them so “you can eventually lose your beach”.

Victor Harbor Mayor Dr Moira Jenkins said: “We’ve seen damage that the more frequent and more serious storms have caused. We will see further sand movement, increased seaweed on the beaches. We have to make sure anything we do, doesn’t make it worse.”

Originally published as Victor Harbor and Port Elliot to choose as sea levels rise: Lawn bowls or sandy beach?