Coastal alert
New warnings have been issued about the vulnerability of the coastline
‘URGENT attention must be given to the receding coastline north of the Port of Richards Bay.’
The Department of Agriculture and Environmental Affairs (DAEA) issued this warning over the weekend in a published Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) fact sheet.
Their study on the uThungulu District, which encompasses the uMhlathuze, uMlalazi and uMfolozi municipalities, indicates that while most of the beaches are only at moderate risk from erosion, climate change and sea-level rise, the immediate section from Alkantstrand northwards is in serious danger.
Huge tidal surges during storms over the past years have seen mass disintegration and narrowing of the dune defence that protects the coastline.
According to the CVI, 42% of the 101km of uThungulu coastline is at low risk, 53% at moderate risk and 4% at high risk.
The new warnings come as no surprise to locals, who have observed the steady narrowing of beach width over the past years, and seen beach access ramps north of the harbour being smashed and swallowed up by the advancing sea.
The steady thinning of the coastal dunes will impact on setback lines for development, as well as on agriculture, mining, forestry, recreation, infrastructure, subsistence marine harvesting and residences.
‘We will handle each problem area on a case-by-case basis,’ said Omar Parak of the DAEA Sub-directorate: Coastal and Biodiversity Management.
‘Besides retreating on setback lines where possible, we may need added protection in terms of sea defences.’
Options may include ‘hard engineering’ (physical barriers) or ‘soft engineering’, such as placing thousands of special sand bags (geobags) on beaches.
Parak said the CVI study, which also showed erosion vulnerability within the port, had largely been in response to the major coastal storms of 2007 that caused millions of rands of damage to infrastructure and impacted on estuaries.
‘The department will do the work to determine the hazard line, together with stakeholders, and will including the rise in sea levels in our planning.
’We must also determine the effect of the breakwater on the narrowing of the beach profile to the north as it prevents the normal migration of sand.’
Current dredging operations entailing a sand bypass scheme from the south breakwater to Alkantstrand see more than one million cubic metres of sand pumped onto the beach annually, but this is hopelessly inadequate to replace sand losses.
The Zululand Observer has regularly documented responses to the threat posed by the crumbling coastline – one that will require millions of rands to combat:
26-09-2006
Then City Engineer, Frik Bosman called the sea’s advance ‘unstoppable’ and said that even the Port Control Tower could slip into the sea in the next 30 to 50 years. Bosman said the country’s coastline was sand-starved, and no amount of dredge spoil pumped onto beaches north of Alkantstrand could reverse the wave action.
11-10-2006
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 onlookers watched this week as dunes collapsed before their eyes, vegetation including large trees plummeting into the sea.
01-08-2007
Following a report by the CSIR, fears were expressed that tidal surges could cause the sea to break through at the Caravan Park area north of Alkantstrand, flooding low-lying parts of Meerensee. The CSIR was mandated by the municipality to prepare a report on setback lines for the northern beaches, which would determine the distance from the sea where buildings could be safely erected.
11-09-2007
The perimeter fencing and sundowner deck at Imvubu Chalets plunged into the sea as the high dune below slumped at a rapid rate following tidal surges
20-05-2009
Findings of a study, commissioned by the City Council in 2008, were presented to Exco by Africon’s Frans Kapp, who said ‘there are areas that are below sea level, so a New Orleans-type scenario is possible, given a combination of rising sea levels, erosion, tides and weather’.
23-02-2011
As Zululand’s fragile coastline took another battering from wild spring tides, the Richards Bay lighthouse at Mzingazi – which once stood 200 metres from the sea – was now on the brink of a sheer drop and close to toppling onto the beach. A site was secured for a new lighthouse.
