Beaches in top shape after Oma battering

THE Gold Coast’s battered beaches have been declared ready for the Easter school holidays.

The Gold Coast City Council yesterday wrapped up more than $150,000 in beach repair works following last month’s Tropical Cyclone Oma which caused significant erosion along the coastline.

Mayor Tom Tate yesterday inspected the beaches at Surfers Paradise and said the city was ready for a “bumper” Easter.

“We have 52km of beaches and we are ready so my message to people is come on down and enjoy,” he said.

“As far as we are concerned we are ready for you from The Spit to Coolangatta.

“We are going to see 100,000 people coming down here so if you are in retail, get ready to rake in the money.”

While Cyclone Oma failed to cross the coastline, it brought heavy swells to the city across a five-day period, with waves of up to eight metres recorded offshore.

Council workers moved in rapidly in the aftermath of the weather event and re-profiled the dunes to reduce scarping, fixed dune fences and cleaned up the beaches.

While the beach repairs are completed, a major shoreline revamp just south of Narrowneck is back on track.

The $1.5 million upgrade of the seawall between Surfers Paradise’s Highman St and Ocean Ave is expected to be completed in June.

The project was put on hold briefly as Oma hammered the coastline.

“At the time we had key work under way at Narrowneck which was a real concern but given the high volumes of sand we have along our beaches, the large swell did not penetrate,” Cr Tate said. “It’s a credit to all (council) officers.”

Meanwhile, work will begin next month on the $18.2 million Palm Beach artificial reef.

The project is expected to take four months to complete.