By ATHENA O'REILLY and TYLER RIDDIN
The coast has been battered and eroded by the super surge yesterday and Thursday.
Beaches were scoured, dunes collapsed, pipes damaged, and retention walls demolished.
Two kinds of people are reaping the benefits: surfers and precious metal hunters.
The SA Masters Surfing Championships managed to find good waves in the shelter of Nahoon Corner and heats have been run with only a few stops.
Metal hunters with their detectors were out in full force during the new moon-affected low tides yesterday looking for treasures long lost and buried on the beaches, but now accessible after the massive swells ate almost half the dunes at Nahoon Point Nature Reserve.
Massive 15 to 20 feet walls of water, arriving in sets of six, turned popular Eastern Beach into a danger zone, throwing blocks of cement onto the Esplanade and pummelling onlookers, some in their vehicles.
No lives were lost, but a video showing a triple-up wave slamming into the public on the Esplanade was shared many times.
Yesterday part of the Esplanade was closed to traffic as Buffalo City Metro workers cleaned up sand and debris, loading smashed cement bins, bricks and piles of wood onto dump trucks.
BCM spokesman Samkelo Ngwenya warned residents on his Facebook page to be mindful of the mop up process.
“We are currently assessing the extent of the damage caused by strong waves in our Orient and aquarium areas yesterday evening,” he said.
“This includes the affected roads that are still closed around the beaches in the areas of Gonubie, Leaches Bay and Eastern Beach.”
The East London Aquarium was closed to the public yesterday as repair work continued at the seal enclosure.
Avid metal detector enthusiast Gary Riecke was at Nahoon Beach yesterday saying the storm surge was “a golden opportunity”.
“I found plenty of bullets in the sand – there must have been a shooting range here. But we have had lots of fun in the sun after the dunes collapsed,” he said.
Riecke found a white gold diamond ring and a gold band ring.
Another metal detector enthusiast Jason Oosthuysen of Cambridge said he found a diamond pendant at Nahoon.
“This is huge because we are finding really great stuff. You can imagine that we will come across great things now that the dunes are gone,” he said.
Along the Esplanade a sewerage pipe was gushing raw waste into the ocean.
Nontando Kshe, a mother who brought her young son to see the damages said: “It’s disgusting to see and smell this and it will spread down the beach.
“For all this damage to happen in just one day shows how little maintenance is done here to make sure things don’t break so easily.
“It is a shame because the aquarium used to be very nice, but now even its walkway was washed away.” — oreillya@tisoblackstar.co.za
After the super surges begins the big cleanup
The coast has been battered and eroded by the super surge yesterday and Thursday.
Beaches were scoured, dunes collapsed, pipes damaged, and retention walls demolished.
Two kinds of people are reaping the benefits: surfers and precious metal hunters.
The SA Masters Surfing Championships managed to find good waves in the shelter of Nahoon Corner and heats have been run with only a few stops.
Metal hunters with their detectors were out in full force during the new moon-affected low tides yesterday looking for treasures long lost and buried on the beaches, but now accessible after the massive swells ate almost half the dunes at Nahoon Point Nature Reserve.
Massive 15 to 20 feet walls of water, arriving in sets of six, turned popular Eastern Beach into a danger zone, throwing blocks of cement onto the Esplanade and pummelling onlookers, some in their vehicles.
No lives were lost, but a video showing a triple-up wave slamming into the public on the Esplanade was shared many times.
Yesterday part of the Esplanade was closed to traffic as Buffalo City Metro workers cleaned up sand and debris, loading smashed cement bins, bricks and piles of wood onto dump trucks.
BCM spokesman Samkelo Ngwenya warned residents on his Facebook page to be mindful of the mop up process.
“We are currently assessing the extent of the damage caused by strong waves in our Orient and aquarium areas yesterday evening,” he said.
“This includes the affected roads that are still closed around the beaches in the areas of Gonubie, Leaches Bay and Eastern Beach.”
The East London Aquarium was closed to the public yesterday as repair work continued at the seal enclosure.
Avid metal detector enthusiast Gary Riecke was at Nahoon Beach yesterday saying the storm surge was “a golden opportunity”.
“I found plenty of bullets in the sand – there must have been a shooting range here. But we have had lots of fun in the sun after the dunes collapsed,” he said.
Riecke found a white gold diamond ring and a gold band ring.
Another metal detector enthusiast Jason Oosthuysen of Cambridge said he found a diamond pendant at Nahoon.
“This is huge because we are finding really great stuff. You can imagine that we will come across great things now that the dunes are gone,” he said.
Along the Esplanade a sewerage pipe was gushing raw waste into the ocean.
Nontando Kshe, a mother who brought her young son to see the damages said: “It’s disgusting to see and smell this and it will spread down the beach.
“For all this damage to happen in just one day shows how little maintenance is done here to make sure things don’t break so easily.
“It is a shame because the aquarium used to be very nice, but now even its walkway was washed away.” — oreillya@tisoblackstar.co.za
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