Watching our coastline as weather approaches

Published on 11 May 2018

With marine wind, hazardous surf and severe weather warnings issued by the Bureau of Meteorology for today and over the weekend, MidCoast Council is keeping a close watch on coastal areas subject to erosion.

"Damage to coastal areas is possible due to the predicted low pressure system that will be moving up the east coast of Australia from this Friday" says Council's Coastal Management Coordinator, Andrew Staniland.

With the combination of predicted large swell of five to seven metres, steadily increasing high tides (peaking at over 1.9 metres on Tuesday) and a low pressure system, Council is alert to the possibility of coastal erosion on the MidCoast. Beaches with less sand such as Jimmys, Old Bar and Manning Point are likely to be most affected.

Winds are predicted to be north-west, swinging later to westerly and south westerly, and this may alter the impact of the event.

"It's unpredictable exactly how the weather, wind, swell and tide factors will play out, so we are in a watch-and-wait position" adds Andrew Staniland. "Our plan is to assess the beaches after the weather event passes, and, if damage occurs, decide what works will need to be undertaken."

Council urges people to exercise extreme caution at beaches during the weather event. Most lifeguard patrols have already finished for the cooler months, so if in doubt, please don't enter the water.

For information on how we manage our coastal erosion hotspots, please visit midcoast.nsw.gov.au/coastal. For weather updates, visit the Bureau of Meteorology website at bom.gov.au.