Before
Photos taken prior to SFPO technical team with Kouga municipality to restore the parking area and beach access.
After
Taken on Thursday 6th September before the storm surf struck over the weekend showing how the walkway to the beach had been repaired as well as the parking area
After the weekend storm surf
Photos taken on Sunday 9th September showing damaged walkway
Callo the impression given from this story is factually incorrect. This will be the third time that the Anne Ave revetments & infrastructure will have to be repaired in the last 14 months. We all agree that the beaches have to be saved but in this instance we must ask as to whether the required design and construction criteria was followed in the innitial repair of these revetments.
Hi Frank the point of the photos was not intended to misrepresent how often the repairs have had to be done but rather that we need to save our beach. Man destroyed the natural flow of sand be it Santareme or removing the sand dunes on the shoreline so man must find the means and methods to fix the damage done.
The SPIT, what about the spit?
The only way to save the land is to build a concrete retaining wall along the beach
With climate change you cannot hold back the sea
In England and Jersey they have built retaining walls so that the land is safe
No amount of rock revetments will do it
I am in agreement with above.
This is why many of us have made material discretionary payments to the Save St Francis Fund.
Given the serious nature any EIA timelines should be decreased accordingly.
My house is just above Anne Road beach and impacts on use of beach and enjoyment of village.
1) It was not a storm. It was typical, seasonal and predictable in-coming large southerly swell that the surfers welcome this time of year, every year … accompanied by a cold front that gave us 60mm or rain – hardly a storm.
2) According to Stephen Leatherman (“Dr. Beach”) of the National Healthy Beaches Campaign USA “Building a bulkhead or seawall along one or a few coastal properties may protect homes from damaging storm waves for a few years, but end up doing more harm than good” writes Leatherman, adding that such structures along retreating shorelines eventually cause diminished beach width and even loss.
An approach that has worked is the insertion of perpendicular groins/piers and supplementing same with sand.
In the early 1980s, the city of Miami spent some $65 million adding sand to a 10-mile stretch of fast-eroding shoreline. Not only did the effort stave off erosion, it helped revitalize the South Beach neighborhood and rescue hotels, restaurants and shops there that cater to the rich and famous.
3) SFPO and Municipality – Please stop throwing rocks at the sea. You are wasting your time and money and just making it worse. Do it properly or don’t do it all.
Yes agreed, this time of the year there are always storms around equinox. Rock revetments are a temporary solution to the beachfront properties, groins and sand replenishment are the only solution, permeable groins being the best solution so you don’t get erosion on the leeward side of the prevailing current associated with westerly swell. Unfortunately for St Francis Bay as soon as a solution is reached by dedicated concerned residents an opposing party rears it’s ugly head to stop what must be done? Much the same as the SRL at present!
Another example of the urgent need for the SFBPOA & the Concerned Residents Association to discuss their differences and seek solutions. There is nothing to be gained by further delays. A united approach to the Municipality is much more likely to bear fruit.