Latest news with #beacherosion
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Erosion on Gold Coast beaches could take three years to recover from Cyclone Alfred
By Nicholas McElroy, ABC Exposed rock walls near Narrowneck on the Gold Coast three months after Cyclone Alfred. Photo: ABC News: Nicholas McElroy It is the last line of defence for properties on the Gold Coast - and high tides keep crashing against it. Three months after Cyclone Alfred hit the the coast, parts of the city's "A-Line" rock wall remain exposed. Beach walkers and residents on the northern Gold Coast say they cannot see it being fixed in a hurry. "It's just ruined the beaches, the high tide comes right up to the wall," said Main Beach resident Rod Clutton. Damage at Narrowneck Beach on the Gold Coast three months after the cyclone. Photo: ABC News: Nicholas McElroy More than $30 million has been spent on a sand-pumping barge so far, but successive swells and high tides have hurt recovery efforts. "I just don't know how it's going to be fixed," Clutton said. The Gold Coast's beaches could take up to three years to fully recover from the storm, according to the council. It said Cyclone Alfred was the worst weather event to hit the city in 50 years, and beaches were the narrowest they had been in 25 years. Although it might look bad, the beaches have eroded many times before. Cyclone Alfred ripped an estimated 6 million cubic metres - or 2000 Olympic swimming pools - of sand from beaches across the city. A bulldozer shifting sand on Surfers Paradise Beach at low tide. Photo: ABC News: Nicholas Mc Elroy But coastal engineer Angus Jackson said the sand should not be thought of as "lost". "We know from 60 years of survey data that sand is gradually moving onshore, so nothing is lost," said Jackson, chief executive engineer at International Coastal Management. "It's just constantly translating offshore [and] onshore." The beaches are still vulnerable to future storm events. While there are plenty of spots to pop down a towel on the city's 52 kilometres of beaches, the worst visible impacts are north of Surfers Paradise. That includes Narrowneck Beach, which gets its name from the narrow strip of land separating the Nerang River from the Pacific Ocean. "We've got to protect all our beaches, especially our vulnerable points," Tate said. "Because if Mother Nature comes with another [Cyclone] Oswald to Narrowneck right now, it could potentially break through." The council said it planned to move more than 1 million cubic metres of sand to beaches over the next year. Tate said he would "work to find a long-term solution to make sure Narrowneck would be safe for the future". Dredge works have been ongoing after the storm. Photo: ABC Gold Coast: Steve Keen He pointed to existing artificial reefs at Narrowneck and Palm Beach, which were built to protect the coastline from extreme weather events. Breakwalls, rock groynes and a network of pipes and sand stockpiles are used to nourish the beaches on the Gold Coast. There have been a number of proposals to protect Surfers Paradise beach over the years. Jackson said a fringing reef built offshore could be a solution to protect the coastline. He said it would minimise the impacts on the beaches by softening the blows of a large storm swell. "[The water offshore] would look like it looks now unless we get a storm with over 5-metre waves," Jackson said. "Suddenly you'd see the waves breaking out towards the horizon and the energy not reaching those upper beaches. "Day to day, you wouldn't know it was there," he said. The beach separates a lot of real estate from the ocean. Photo: ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale Jackson, whose company has won Gold Coast contracts, said a project could build on lessons learnt from artificial reefs at Narrowneck and Palm Beach. "We can have this hidden protection that's below water level," he said. "With sea-level rise, you gradually increase the height of the reef." At the end of the day, Jackson said it was important to get sand back onto the shore to soften the blow of any future storms. "What we need is a enough buffer zone so when we get that storm hit, instead of it [surf] being in the middle of the Esplanade, it's back [on the sand] and we still have a usable beach," Jackson said. He said council's recovery timeline seemed conservative, and sand would soon be pushed toward the exposed rock walls. "That's the first time we've seen that [Narrowneck] boulder wall in 26 years. It'll recover again - the sand backpassing will bring sand back," he said. "We've made the beaches much more resilient, they're not natural anymore, they're very much managed." - ABC
ABC News
2 days ago
- Climate
- ABC News
Erosion on Gold Coast beaches could take three years to recover from Cyclone Alfred
It is the last line of defence for properties on the Gold Coast — and high tides keep crashing against it. Three months after Cyclone Alfred hit the the coast, parts of the city's "A-Line" rock wall remain exposed. Beach walkers and residents on the northern Gold Coast say they cannot see it being fixed in a hurry. "It's just ruined the beaches, the high tide comes right up to the wall," said Main Beach resident Rod Clutton. More than $30 million has been spent on a sand-pumping barge so far, but successive swells and high tides have hurt recovery efforts. "I just don't know how it's going to be fixed," Mr Clutton said. The Gold Coast's beaches could take up to three years to fully recover from the storm, according to the council. It said Cyclone Alfred was the worst weather event to hit the city in 50 years, and beaches were the narrowest they had been in 25 years. Although it might look bad, the beaches have eroded many times before. Cyclone Alfred ripped an estimated 6 million cubic metres — or 2,000 Olympic swimming pools — of sand from beaches across the city. But coastal engineer Angus Jackson said the sand should not be thought of as "lost". "We know from 60 years of survey data that sand is gradually moving onshore, so nothing is lost," said Mr Jackson, chief executive engineer at International Coastal Management. The beaches are still vulnerable to future storm events. While there are plenty of spots to pop down a towel on the city's 52 kilometres of beaches, the worst visible impacts are north of Surfers Paradise. That includes Narrowneck Beach, which gets its name from the narrow strip of land separating the Nerang River from the Pacific Ocean. "We've got to protect all our beaches, especially our vulnerable points," Cr Tate said. The council said it planned to move more than 1 million cubic metres of sand to beaches over the next year. Cr Tate said he would "work to find a long-term solution to make sure Narrowneck would be safe for the future". He pointed to existing artificial reefs at Narrowneck and Palm Beach, which were built to protect the coastline from extreme weather events. Breakwalls, rock groynes and a network of pipes and sand stockpiles are used to nourish the beaches on the Gold Coast. There have been a number of proposals to protect Surfers Paradise beach over the years. Mr Jackson said a fringing reef built offshore could be a solution to protect the coastline. He said it would minimise the impacts on the beaches by softening the blows of a large storm swell. "[The water offshore] would look like it looks now unless we get a storm with over 5-metre waves," Mr Jackson said. "Suddenly you'd see the waves breaking out towards the horizon and the energy not reaching those upper beaches. "Day to day, you wouldn't know it was there," he said. Mr Jackson, whose company has won Gold Coast contracts, said a project could build on lessons learnt from artificial reefs at Narrowneck and Palm Beach. "We can have this hidden protection that's below water level," he said. "With sea-level rise, you gradually increase the height of the reef." At the end of the day, Mr Jackson said it was important to get sand back onto the shore to soften the blow of any future storms. "What we need is a enough buffer zone so when we get that storm hit, instead of it [surf] being in the middle of the Esplanade, it's back [on the sand] and we still have a usable beach," Mr Jackson said. He said council's recovery timeline seemed conservative, and sand would soon be pushed towards the exposed rock walls. "That's the first time we've seen that [Narrowneck] boulder wall in 26 years, it'll recover again, the sand backpassing will bring sand back," he said. "We've made the beaches much more resilient, they're not natural anymore, they're very much managed."
ABC News
30-05-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Beach erosion grounds Pacific Airshow months after ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred
A popular airshow on the Gold Coast has been cancelled, with organisers blaming beach erosion caused by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred. The Pacific Airshow, which last year attracted 270,000 spectators, was meant to take place over three days from August 15 on Surfers Paradise beach. The famous stretch of sand remains closed after large swells pounded the beach during ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred in early March. The Gold Coast City Council had hoped to restore the beaches by Easter, with a sand-dredging barge brought in to replenish more than 4 million cubic metres of sand, but large swells and king tides have delayed the project. Until earlier this month, Pacific Airshow organisers were reassuring the public they were confident the city's eroded beaches would be ready in time for this year's event. However in a statement on Friday the event's director said extensive modelling revealed the site wouldn't be safe for spectators. "Our team is devastated to be forced to cancel Pacific Airshow Gold Coast 2025, but it's the right thing to do for everyone and the long-term restoration of the beach," said airshow director Kevin Elliott. He said organisers considered changing the date and moving to another location on the Gold Coast but could not find an option that wouldn't compromise the show or community safety. Mr Elliott said tickets holders would be given the choice of either receiving a refund or holding the tickets to use for the 2026 event. The Queensland government had estimated the event generates more than $33 million in overnight visitor expenditure for the Gold Coast, with more than 22,000 people flying to Queensland specifically for the event.
