Lighthouse ever closer to toppling
An inspection of the site at Mzingazi on Tuesday revealed further erosion has taken place – a combination of rain water above and wave erosion at the toe of the dune face
THE final fall of the Richards Bay Lighthouse into the ocean below is surely a mere surge storm or two away.
An inspection of the site at Mzingazi on Tuesday revealed further erosion has taken place – a combination of rain water above and wave erosion at the toe of the dune face.
In December, the base of the lighthouse stood five metres from the edge; since then, another two metres have eroded.
Photo: Dave Savides
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When it was commissioned in 1979, the lighthouse – which has a range of 25 sea miles – stood 300 metres from the ocean.
Alan Smith of the School of Geological Sciences Department at UKZN and Lisa Guastella of the Oceanography Department at UCT, who both inspected the site on Tuesday, reiterated that the coastal erosion has been ongoing for two decades and would continue – making the fall of the lighthouse inevitable.
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