SERIOUS EROSION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20860, 12 August 1942, Page 4

SERIOUS EROSION

BEACH AT WAINUI HOUSES IN DANGER SOUTH-EASTERLY WINDS Some of the Wainui Bench residents are becoming very concerned regarding serious erosion that has been taking place on the beach recently, for several of the houses are in danger of having portions of their foundations swept from beneath them. The erosion appears to be worst between the Wainui and Okitu creeks, with really severe scouring at either end of this stretch of beach, while in addition a point beyond the Wainui Creek has been eaten back by the sea. As a result, some of the houses are now only a few feet from a bank with a drop of more than 15ft. in some places. Residents who have been living on the beach for a number of years state that the recent scouring is the first with serious effects for the past 12 or 15 years. At that time a succession of southerly and south-easterly gales caused much the same trouble as that which has occurred now. The beach was eroded of practically all sand, leaving only pug and stones. Since that time, however, bad southerly or south-easterly weather was not very frequent, and the beach has been building up. One resident who erected a wall at the time of the previous erosions in order to prevent a further encroachment of the sea found that his wall was not only unwanted but was actually buried as the beach was making up again. It was a sft. wall, and until comparatively recently the top of it was Ift. below the surface of the sand. Now, however, the sand has all disappeared, leaving the wall as testimony of the resident’s previous precautions. It is feared that if the erosion goes on much longer, drastic steps may have to be taken to save some of the houses close to the worst portions of the foreshore, but some residents state that there are signs that further scouring may be held up. It has been noticed lately that some stones have been washed up at certain points, and these will tend to break up the scouring action of the sea near those points.