Sea - front Property Owners say Municipality Won't Help Save Their Homes: We Can't Help You, says City

THE eThekwini Municipality and the provincial Agricultural and Environmental Affairs Department have told the owners of luxury homes whose La Lucia beachfront properties are being washed away by the sea to fend for themselves.

Among the Durban home owners affected on Eastmoor Crescent are the head of Rhema Church, Pastor Ray McCauley. The worst hit were McCauley's neighbours, George and Judy Alfonso, where the sea has eaten away more than 4 meters of their holiday home property.

Yesterday, the Johannesburg couple. with about a dozen workers, were frantically filling sand bags and stacking them along the sea-facing property's boundary before the tide came in about 14h00. The Alfonsos estimate the damage to their property at R350 000.

The Municipality attributes the damage to unusually high waves which developed last week, while the residents blame a stormwater pipe.

Part of the Alfonsos' swimming pool and patio area now teeters dangerously over the beach as the soil beneath it has been washed away.  Their boundary wall, which faced the sea, no longer exists.

The Deputy Head of the city's Coastal, Stormwater and Catchment Management Department, Randeer Kasserchun, said Eastmoor Crescent residents had been instructed to use only "soft engineering" to protect their properties.

He said the council had suggested that sand bags be used as the municipality did not want major retaining walls to be erected for environmental reasons. "It is the onus of the property owners to ensure that the necessary protection works are carried out," he said.

The Alfonsos said they were upset that the city and the Agricultural and Environmental Affairs Department did not want to assist, especially since they were convinced that a stormwater pipe next their home had contributed to the damage.

Alfonso said the pipe did not extend far enough out to sea. When rainwater came through, it caused the soil beneath to gradually erode away.  "Not at all," said Kasserchun when asked to respond.

"The erosion was attributed to abnormal sea conditions that were caused by the combination of prevailing strong south-easterly winds and the occurrence of spring tide conditions," he said. Kasserchun said huge swells were common during this time of year. He said the most severely affected properties were those that had little or no dune vegetation protecting their frontage.

Rivers and Coastal Engineering Manager Godfrey Vella said people with sea-facing properties often destroyed dune vegetation to get better sea views. An emergency meeting had been held with the residents, said Kasserchun.

Property owners were told to carry out emergency protection works according to environmental regulations.

 

25 September, 2006

©amelia.naidoo@inl.co.za

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Coastal Erosion Accelerates

Wave action

Brothers Jarryd and Tegan du Toit are caught by surprise as an extra large wave pounds into the dunes on Tuesday afternoon at Palm Beach, just north of Alkantstrand. Wave action has totally undermined the Zululand coastline over the past month, sweeping thousands of tons of sand into the sea

METRES per day of coastal dunes and beaches continued to crumble as huge seas whipped up by strong southeasterly winds at spring tides took their toll this week.

Sandy beaches are virtually non existent from Alkantstrand northwards and, as onlookers watched, dunes collapsed before their eyes causing vegetation and large trees to plummet into the sea. The latter are an added headache to authorities baffled by nature’s latest onslaught on the beaches. ‘A small boat would be in serious trouble if it smacked a half-submerged tree at sea,’ said an official.

Also dangerously afloat are numerous creosote poles which once formed part of beach infrastructure. Meanwhile, arguments and blame-laying continue as amenities that have cost hundreds of thousands of rands to build look likely to be washed away at the next spring tides.

While most concede that matters beyond the control of local authorities are at fault - such as global warming - others say poor management of the coastal system has played its part. ‘Short of building another pier at the Palm Beach/uMhlathuze Pipeline area to prevent sand from moving northwards, there is no alternative but to continuously pump sand into the area,’ said an ex-municipal official who has monitored local beaches for 15 years.

‘Put the dredger just off the shark nets and keep at it. At the same time, bring all the dredge spoil from new works within the port and pump that here as well,’ he said. ‘I watched yesterday as waves broke over the dune at Palm Beach. If that dune was to breach, the sea would flood through and the entire parking lot opposite the Triathlon Club would be under water.’