SENSATION AT OCEAN" BEACH

Evening Post, Volume XLI, Issue 134, 9 June 1891, Page 2

SENSATION AT OCEAN" BEACH

ALABMING ENCROACHMENT OE THE SEA. [Br TfttficfttAPH.] [UNITED FBESB ASSOCIATION.] DimEDrif, Bth Jnncr. Considerable alarm -was causod on tbo flafe to-day by tho extraordinary high tido and. heavy sea on at Ocean Beach, and in tboc afternoon it became evident that a broach; would bo made in tho sandhills at St. Kildaroad, oloso to tho Contral Battery. At 4.30 p.m. the sea had cut a ohannel through, and there Waa a strong stream flowing up tho St. Kilda-road for about 800 yards, which aproad' on to tho low-lying ground. This being tho first oxporienco of the kind,, many of tho inhabitants proparod to loavo their houses ; bnt as the ohannol was out ■ ; through within a short time of high water, nothing Borious happonod. Steps were at once taken to dam back tho water for tlte next tido by filling up tho channel and placing bags full of sand as a protection. At St. Chvir tho remaining portion of tho sen w«,ll has disappeared, and most of tho Esplanade has been washed away. Tho nOXt high tido will probably boo seroTal sootiotlg of land swallowed up, as there is nothing hill the lino of sandhills, now being wcpidly catou fcway, between tho ocean and St. Hilda, South Dnnedin, nud part of Cavqrsham. Tho residents and property owners aro very ooniridorably alarmod. Later. Tho work of fillHMf ftp the channel out by tho sea at Ocean Beacn *»3 finished nbont 7 o'clock, but nothing will bo known of tho result till 4 a.m. The wind, whioh had died away, is freshening up again. The damngo ' done by the breach is practicolly oopfined to ' gardens.