ROUGH SEAS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23887, 15 August 1939, Page 4

ROUGH SEAS

ST. CLAIR BEACH POUNDED EROSION OF SANDHILLS PROTECTION WORKS WASHED AWAY The unusually heavy seas that have been running at St. Clair during the past two days have played havoc with the protection work which has recently been carried out past the eastern end of the promenade by the Domain Board's workmen, and all that now remains of tiie stput breastwork are a few sandbags- and a twisted mass of railway iron and wires. The sea has further encroached on the stone wall which once stayed up the St. Clair end of the track through the sandhillsl and some -idea of ;the force of the waveS can be gaihedf from the fact that the huge stalls from the wall have been torn away jnd strewn for 100 yards along what was once a sandy beach. .:V'V' ; 'iAa' l AiMiWn| , ''<^-" K:i ''-- l ''" : ■" The gap in the track has assumed somewhat alarming proportions, and although the workmen were yesterday making an attempt to reinforce the worst'sections with, filling from the Drainage Board's works on the Anderson's Bay road it,is doubtful, frdhj; the masse* of sand that were being swept away by every wave, if these measures Will prove of much avaiL. Indeed, short of extending the promenade, it is difficult to Uee that anything' can permanently arrest the erosion by the sea which, has already, taken a huge bite out of the sandhills extending about 15 feet in from where the wall previously stood and nearly 300 yards in length. A Vanished Beach Farther along the beach, the existing line of the sandhills is also suffering a ; severe battering, and yesterday the pounding of the waves was rapidly loosening and carrying away quantities of sand and large clumps of marram grass and lupines. In places the sea is coming up to within a few yards Of the edge of the track, and it would appear that unless some kind of protective work is undertaken very shortly, the section of the popular "Lovers Lane" from the promenade to opposite the St. Clair Croquet Club s green will have disappeared altogether. St. Clair itself no longer has a beach. In nlace of the beautiful stretch of sand in front of the promenade, there is now a desolate waste Of boulders. Several old residents of the district say that the sand will come back again; others are not so optimistic. In any case, its loss is a minor consideration compared with the erosion which is surely and all too rapidly eating away the sandhills which form the barrier between the Pacific Ocean and the residential portion of St. Clair.