Wamberal prayers answered but frustration remains

The prayers of the residents of 18 properties in Wamberal beach, on the NSW central coast, have been answered; their homes still stand.

Owner Richard Green’s Sussex Inlet Marine Centre usually stands above the water level. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

It seemed like a perfect storm: a string of beachfront mansions teetering on the brink of destruction as wild weather battered the east coast, threatening every hour to drag them into the sea.

But for now, the prayers of the residents of 18 properties in Wamberal beach, on the NSW central coast, have been answered; their homes still stand.

Last-minute emergency works to reinforce the structures’ foundations, suffering from extreme sand erosion, were enough to prevent homes being washed away by the swell but left frustrated homeowners demanding to know why the weekend’s fortification had been so long in coming.

The Central Coast Council laid tonnes of boulders and piled up about 150 rock-filled bags to stop erosion from the unrelenting tide and, according to one resident, “are doing exactly what we were told was impossible.” 

“For years now the good folk of Wamberal have pleaded with the council to simply afford, at the residents’ expense, the opportunity to place suitable approved and engineeringly sound protections at the ocean toe of their properties,” Warren Hughes said.

“It has been met at every turn with frustration. Fast-­forward after the devastating storm that 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 the council’s planned retreat policy excuse? Well councillors, despite all of this nonsense, it happened.”

Council’s chief executive Gary Murphy 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.”

Forty beachside houses at Wamberal face further degradation, with some already collapsing into the sea as waves smash the fragile coastal wall.

NSW State Emergency Services have been flooded with thousands of calls since the deluge hit on Saturday and have responded to flood rescues in Jamberoo and Nowra.

Meanwhile, 20 homes in Sussex Inlet on the NSW south coast were evacuated as the river at Sanctuary Point reached 1.1m.