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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
National
Gabriel Fowler

Giant swells smash Stockton and wreak widespread havoc at Hunter beaches

Stockton battered by massive waves as storm swell combines with high tide flooding parts of the suburb | Newcastle Herald | April 2, 2022
CARNAGE: The sun comes out at Stockton Beach on Sunday after being hammered by yet another king tide and massive swells, leaving behind masses of debris. Pictures: Peter Lorimer
Not the best day to take a dip. Six-metre swells hammered Newcastle City beaches on Saturday.

GIANT swells have wreaked havoc at the Hunter's beaches over the weekend, threatening surf clubs and homes, closing beaches and washing through construction sites at Newcastle Beach.

The storm-driven maelstrom in the days leading up to Saturday created six metre swells which pounded the coast, with long-time beach watchers calling it the biggest surf they'd seen in decades.

Waves spilled over the sidewalk and onto the road at Nobbys beach and spread sea foam across Newcastle beach up to the surf club and beyond.

Walkways were covered and the beach was almost entirely inaccessible.

Read more: Surfest struggles to keep competition running as storm swell batters beaches

At Redhead, a rogue wave smashed into the surf club, and at Blacksmith's Beach locals say they are getting closer and closer to a repeat of the erosion disaster unfolding at Stockton Beach.

The morning after: piles of debris amassed along Stockton beach after wild weather at the weekend.

Waves could be seen breaking across deep open water in Stockton Bight in front of the harbour entrance from Fort Scratchely.

Walls of whitewater broke along the harbour side of the Stockton breakwall, a rare occurrence.

Bureau of Meterology senior forecaster Neale Fraser said that while waves had dissipated on Sunday to about two metres they remained "deceptively hazardous" due to the amount of waterand energy behind them.

Regular beach goer Pat Gleeson, who is in the surf at sunrise every morning, said he could only get his feet wet at Merewether baths on Saturday morning, with water lapping up onto the tables near the showers.

"We've had some big seas but that was enormous," Mr Gleeson said.

Scenes from Stockton Beach on Saturday morning, April 2. Picture: John Hunter
Scenes from Stockton Beach on Saturday morning, April 2. Picture: John Hunter
Scenes from Stockton Beach on Saturday morning, April 2. Picture: John Hunter
Scenes from Stockton Beach on Saturday morning, April 2. Picture: John Hunter
Scenes from Stockton Beach on Saturday morning, April 2. Picture: John Hunter
Stockton beach on Sunday. Picture: Peter Lorimer
Stockton beach on Sunday. Picture: Peter Lorimer
Scenes at Stockton on Sunday. Picture: Peter Lorimer
Stockton beach on Sunday. Picture: Peter Lorimer
Sea foam at Merewether Ocean baths this afternoon. A 'storm force' wind warning - the level below hurricane - was issued by the Bureau of Meteorology as massive swells smashed the coastline, forcing Surfest organisers to cancel events on Friday and Saturday. Picture: Marina Neil
Massive seas and a king tide pounds Newcastle Beach on the weekend
A dog walking through sea foam at the canoe pool beside Newcastle Ocean Baths on Friday. Picture: Simone De Peak
Giant swells wreak havoc at Bar Beach on Friday. Picture: Simone De Peak
Massive seas and a king tide pounds Newcastle Beach on the weekend. Picture Peter Lorimer
Massive seas and a king tide pounds Newcastle Beach on the weekend. Picture: Peter Lorimer

Another city beach regular, who has lived in Newcastle for 20 years, said the beaches were "unrecognisable".

In Stockton, the beach was yet again battered by a massive tide that sent waves crashing over the Mitchell Street rock wall and sand dunes near Corroba Oval and into the suburb.

At the unprotected northern end of the beach, debris and water crashed through the dunes and on to Meredith and Eames streets, approaching nearby houses.

Masses of debris including half-trees and timber littered along the beach during previous storms were pushed back onto the headland. Access pathways were clogged as waves continued to reach the uppermost extremities of the beach on Saturday afternoon.

Stockton Surf Club president Paul Bernard said the club had been devastated by the ongoing and disastrous erosion of Stockton Beach.

"With each event, it gets worse," Mr Bernard said, "It's a continual erosion and then when we get the higher tides it washes the water up into the bank again, and pulls that sand that is continually crumbling down the face of the erosion cliff and drags it into the water.

"As time goes on, we lose more and more and it starts to put other areas under threat. I think what is happening in Newcastle this weekend is more in that extreme category. We couple that with big tides and we're actually at risk of inundation."

"As a surf club, we're unable to function."

Nippers racing at the Australian Championships haven't been able to participate in board training for four or five weeks, since the state titles, he said.

"Unfortunately, it is now in that disaster phase. It's not a slow creep anymore. And every time it happens, it becomes a major disaster."

Miles Niddrie, Owner and head coach at Learn To Surf Newcastle, said there were a few weeks where he was able to run surf lesson at Stockton after COVID but it didn't last long.

"The beach gets hammered by back to back swells," he said.

"The main problem with Stockton is they built that sea wall many many years ago, and that was creating a problem 15 years ago and that's just been ongoing. I was talking to Jodi McKay about it in 2005 and the sea wall, and it's just been washing away ever since. It's happened the same way in Narrabeen. It's pretty scary.

"Blacksmiths has copped a pounding as well, and is eating out the northern end of the beach ... it's probably four or five years behind where Stockton is at the moment. I've had a group at Blacksmiths called 'Bring Blacksmiths Back' and obviously there's the Stockton program as well and we're both on the same page in terms of getting sand pumping systems. Stockton needed it when they first started talking about it two years ago.

"Anything they're doing on the beach, these are all stop gap measures.,sand bagging and rock walls, they're just temporary measures to stop these assets washing away. The ocean will smash anything we put up... because we've interfered with natural processes - if you build a wall you've got to do something when the consequences go the other way."

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