Ballina beaches, town hammered in the ‘big blow’
Ballina Shire is likely to feel the after-effects of last week’s big storm for some time to come.
The Richmond River and beaches are floodwater-brown in colour, complete with associated debris and health threats due to what’s in the run-off.
Beach erosion is severe, with Shelly Beach among the hardest hit. Our pictures show the view looking north (above) and south (below).
There is virtually no beach at Shelly. The southern end in front of the surf club is all rock; the beach erosion has eaten well into the dunes; and the shared path in front of the Shelly’s on the Beach cafe has been closed.
Other beaches have lost a lot of sand.
The Ballina coast guard’s Waverider buoy which is located about four miles off Lennox Head recorded a peak wave size of 14m last Thursday during the peak of the ‘blow’.
Trees around Shire towns were hammered by the winds — a drive along Links Avenue highlighted the tree loss at the Ballina Golf Course, which is expected to remain closed this weekend.
During the early part of this week, tides above 2m forced low-lying parts of the town to be inundated.
Further inland, the Simpsons banana farm at Uralba was ‘hammered’. The family was looking forward to harvesting its best-ever crop of bananas, but they were lost.
Family matriarch Clare Simpson, who has lived most of her life on the farm, described the weather as the worst she has experienced.
“It was the first time I’ve been frightened,” she said of the damaging winds.
“This is our heaviest loss ever.”
Meanwhile, an expert says it could be several years before the beaches return to their former glory.
Bill Boyd, Professor of Geography with Southern Cross University’s School of Environmental Science and Management, said beaches normally build up and erode.
In big storms, sand is washed offshore. In calm weather, that sand is gradually moved northwards and back onto our beaches. On the North Coast, this is normally an annual cycle, with winter erosion and summer rebuilding.
“We can expect the beaches rebuild after winter. However, after major storm erosion, it may take several years for the beaches to recover. This can take longer if we get more big storms,” Professor Boyd said.
“In the long term our beaches will gradually lose sand due to increased storminess associated with climate change, and the northwards drift of sand.
“Although the erosion on our beaches may look terrible now, they will recover slowly. By this time next year most people will have forgotten how the beaches looked.
“There is nothing wrong with beaches eroding: that is normal. The big problem comes when people want to live near beaches and risk losing their houses. Our challenge is how to accommodate our desire to live by the beach and to balance the advantages with the risks.
“Beaches are there because of erosion.”
Another looming threat is a fish kill similar to those that followed flooding in 2001 and 2008.
Experts say it could be at least a week before fish-kill evidence could emerge.
* Do you have a storm story or photo to share with Ballina Info readers? Send it to us.
