Wild weather continues to lash NSW
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ABC News
2 hours ago
- ABC News
Anger on Central Coast as beach erosion work begins during wild east coast low
New South Wales Central Coast residents who fear their beachfront homes are on the brink of collapse are frustrated that it has taken a severe weather event for emergency work to be carried out. Sand was delivered to Wamberal Beach on Tuesday to help mitigate the impacts of raging seas, but locals have claimed it was quickly washed away. Council workers placed large bags of rocks along the beachfront on Wednesday morning but resident Lisa Kolinac described the lack of preventative action as a type of "slow, consistent torture". "We've had erosion happening every day here for eight weeks, so all of these residents are sitting in their houses overnight wondering what they're going to wake up to in the morning," she said. Dozens of people were told to leave their homes on Tuesday as a precaution. In 2020 Wamberal Beach was hammered by violent swell and some homes partially collapsed. Ms Kolinac said residents formally appealed to the Central Coast Council seven or eight months ago to take steps to arrest the worsening erosion. "We're now just seeing a few rock bags and a bit of sand pushed on the beach," she said. Ms Kolinac also called for an urgent meeting with Premier Chris Minns to discuss the delay in action and expedite a response. Several residents vented their frustration at a media conference held by council representatives on Wednesday. Chief executive David Farmer said placing rocks on the beach was an attempt to address the issue in the short-term. "This is happening due to an emergency situation and this emergency will abate," he said. "What we need to do is have a medium-term and a long-term fix. "[Reconstruction work] is a medium-term fix, but we need to work towards a long-term fix with the government and the land owners so that we're not coming back again and again. "This is an intolerable situation — it is cost on the rate payers, it's obviously stress for the land, for the property owners. It's a very, very difficult situation. Central Coast Mayor Lawrie McKinna acknowledged the situation was frustrating but said the works required state government approval. "This is the first time we've actually been allowed to place rocks on the beach — because its an emergency situation, that's why they're on here now," he said. "We're working with state government to get a solution here. "It's going back and forward and that's where the frustration is coming [from], because it's taking a while." A coastal management plan has been approved for public consultation and it is hoped the government will authorise it by the end of the year. In a statement a NSW government spokesperson told the ABC it a scope of works for protective measures for The Entrance North had been received, but it was waiting for such an outline for Wamberal. Mr Farmer said those plans were "with the residents at the moment" for review and would be submitted to the government once council secured local agreement. The government spokesperson said financial and technical support had been provided to the council in the development of the coastal management program. "These programs identify coastal management issues and actions required to address these issues in a strategic and integrated way," they said. "We used the NSW Reconstruction Authority Act to declare Wamberal and The Entrance North as a reconstruction area so that council could move quickly. "They've sent us the proposed scope of works for The Entrance North and we now eagerly await their proposed scope of works for Wamberal."
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
Mildura's mysterious big boom has experts and residents searching for answers
A loud sound that shook buildings and rattled residents in north-west Victoria has authorities mystified. Hundreds of residents in the Mildura region took to social media on Tuesday to report a "bang" or "boom" just after 2pm. The noise was reportedly heard as far away as Boundary Bend, more than 100 kilometres from the region's centre. Helen Jack was at her home in Mildura when she heard a bang and her house "shuddered". "Initially I thought that perhaps I'd left the garage door up, as we have a boat in there, which we've got chain-locked to one of the posts … I thought maybe someone was hacking into the lock," she said. Ms Jack said she then ran outside as it "felt like the vibration was on the roof". Resident Andrew Kynaston was working at a house in Mildura when he heard the noise. "I thought maybe they [the owner] had kicked the door," he said. "You could see it in the glare of the sun, where the window moved." University of Melbourne research fellow and AuScope Subsurface Observatory manager Dan Sandiford said a "very clear, short-lived pulse" lasting about a second was recorded at 2.13pm on Tuesday at the Seismology Research Centre's Mildura station. Dr Sandiford said the signal was more characteristic of an atmospheric or surface explosion than an earthquake. "The only sources of big, naturally occurring atmospheric sound waves that I know of are meteors, lightning and volcanoes," he said. But the sound was not picked up at stations in Renmark or Lake Boga and Dr Sandiford said an atmospheric blast near Mildura, such as one caused by a meteor, would probably be detected in those locations. "It looks like an explosion," he said of a graphic reading of the event. But Dr Sandiford said the sound was unlikely to be the result of a quarry blast, the "main sources" of explosions recorded at the Mildura station. "Quarry blasts look a lot like earthquakes because they are generally a source of energy that occurs within the rock. "It doesn't look like a quarry blast because we'd be expecting high frequency energy and we'd be expecting the signal to carry to Renmark." The Country Fire Authority said it had no reports of fires or explosions at that time and Mildura Inspector Dave Rowe said there were no requests for a police response. "From a policing point of view, we don't know [what the noise was]," he said. University of Southern Queensland astrophysics professor Jonti Horner said he was confident the boom was not caused by a meteor or something exploding in the atmosphere. "People would have seen it," he said. "For a fireball to be big enough to get deep enough into the atmosphere and then explode to give a shock wave [and] a sound like this, the sound would have been heard over a larger area, but people would have also seen that fireball in the sky." The Bureau of Meteorology said there were no thunder storms around Mildura on Tuesday afternoon and it could find no connection between the noise and weather. Some Mildura residents theorised the sound could have been a sonic boom from military aircraft breaking the sound barrier. In 2024, the Singapore Air Force was identified as the likely source of a loud noise heard across southern Perth. However, the Department of Defence said there were no fly-overs or training near Mildura on Tuesday.
ABC News
3 hours ago
- ABC News
East coast low drenches south coast of NSW, felling trees, damaging homes
An intense weather system has wreaked havoc on the NSW south coast, downing trees and powerlines with some homes significantly damaged. Emergency flood warnings were issued for Burrill Lake, Sanctuary Point, Lake Conjola and Tabourie on Wednesday after the east coast low brought powerful gusts and heavy rain to the south coast. Ulladulla recorded 223 millimetres of rain on Tuesday night, its heaviest July downpour on record. Meanwhile, wind gusts in excess of 100kph buffeted the coast, felling trees and powerlines. A Sussex Inlet resident said the storm had interrupted his Bali holiday. John Godley was two days into his trip overseas when he received an urgent text from his neighbour telling him his home had been damaged. "She said a massive tree next door on your border has fallen during the rain bomb," he said. It had crushed the roof of his house and the verandah. "I was devastated," he said. Mr Godley said he had been relying on the help of neighbours and family to survey the damage. "I'm tossing up whether to go back to Australia to go look at it," he said. "Before it happened everyone was texting me saying, 'Oh, you're so lucky.'" The NSW SES has responded to more than 2,000 incidents across the state in the past 24 hours, with most jobs in flooded areas along the south coast. Units along the coast have responded to reports of multiple fallen trees damaging homes and property. A large gum tree was uprooted and fell onto a two-storey brick home in Malua Bay, causing significant damage. There were 38 incidents of trees impacting houses in 24 hours in the Eurobodalla, which stretches between Batemans Bay, Akolele and Narooma. NSW SES Eurobodalla commander Peter Collins said some trees were leaning against the buildings, while others had fallen through. "We had a couple last night where they've fallen onto the house and rain is coming into the bedrooms," he said. SES Chief Inspector Dallas Burnes said the full extent of the storm's damage would be assessed once the weather cleared. "We're still seeing some significant rainfall, and the winds, whilst they've eased are still there," he said. The low pressure system is slowly moving off shore, and the NSW SES expects communities to need assistance with cleaning up. "People are identifying problems now and giving us a call," Mr Burns said. "It's mainly storm jobs today, no more flood rescues." However, the NSW SES said further warnings could be issued on Wednesday at Lake Conjola and Sussex Inlet as floodwater was expected to rise ahead of a high tide. Hospitality businesses on the NSW south coast have been preparing to throw out hundreds of dollars worth of food as a result of flood-induced power outages. Rian Gough, owner of Rosie Oats cafe at Burrill Lake, said she expected to lose a lot of produce. "I'm going to have to throw out a lot of my fresh produce so meats, cheeses, fruit and veg and a lot of my bread orders will probably go mouldy," she said. "It's tough, it's really tough, especially being a small business owner and just seeing it all go to waste." Brinley Kettle, who is a co-owner of Lagom Bakery at Burrill Lake, said he had to close his business for the day after losing power for 16 hours. "It's a bit crap we couldn't open," he said. "It does maybe flood once a year or so, but this is quite bad. "This is maybe once in every few years." Mr Kettle said he could lose $1,000 worth of perishable items, including cheese, meats, juices and cakes. "It's quite cold today, so we've got hopes that stuff will keep cool, but definitely not counting on it," he said. "The cakes should be fine, but there's a few things that might not be. "We've still got another day of this rain."
