Powerful seas breach St Francis Bay dune, threatening canal homes
The Kouga Municipality was working flat-out yesterday morning to plug a gaping hole in the sand spit on the north end of St Francis Bay Beach where a powerful spring high tide surged through on Sunday evening, threatening multimillion-rand canal properties.
A truck was moving up and down the shoreline with loads of sand excavated from lower down the beach, and a fleet of front-end loaders were pushing it into the gap.
By noon the hole was filled, but with a massive swell still rolling in the bay and another high tide on its way, the jury is out as to whether the plug will survive the next ocean onslaught.
However, the municipality’s swift response and the revetment they were putting in place should save the day, St Francis Property Owners NonProfit Company spokesperson Deon Pienaar said yesterday.
“The breach is closed now, but obviously it was a worry when it happened.
“I am not sure if it is going to be enough to withstand the next high tide but the situation will become better each day as we move away from full moon, so I think it’s under control.
“My understanding is that the municipality will now continue with their interim solution of creating a rock revetment along the whole length of the spit.”
The breach happened at about 4pm on Sunday afternoon at a point between Mahe Beat Street and Mayotte Circle.
The waves washed over the vegetated spit, quickly eroding the sand until there was a wide gap allowing the surge to push across Ski Canal towards the nearest houses.
Pienaar said there had been a precursor to the latest drama in April, when the municipality was alerted that the spit was starting to breach.
After the area had been reinforced, special fabric was laid on the seaward side of the spit to stabilise erosion and boulders were lowered into position on the fabric to form a sturdy buffer, in line with a design approved last year.
“Both in April and now, the municipality was there on site first thing in the morning after the trouble was reported, so that prompt response has been a great help.
“The new breach did not occur at the same spot they attended to in April, but they are still busy with their revetment project so my understanding is they will be carrying on with it now, starting with the site of the latest breach.”
The St Francis Property Owners Non-Profit Company was, in the meantime, raising funds and working with its partners on the long-term beach nourishment project which would see half a dozen groynes installed along the beach, he said.
Efforts to renourish the dwindling beaches date back nearly two decades after residential development blocked the natural conduit of sand that used to blow from the peninsula dune fields into the bay where it was circulated and deposited on the coastline.
The latest proposal is that sand will be dredged from the silted-up mouth of the Kromme River, pumped through a pipe and expelled into the sea on the south side of the groynes — solid rock piers extending into the sea.
Then the sand slurry will drift down in the current to accumulate along each groyne, gradually renourishing each section of the beach.
Pienaar said that with climate change and sea level rise likely to cause increasing problems with spring high tide ocean surges, time was of the essence to get a long-term solution in place to protect St Francis Bay properties and the tourism industry that was anchored on a wide, secure beach.
“The groyne project has been a long time coming and we have been working closely with the provincial environment department which needs to review the impact assessment we have commissioned.
“We are hoping for an approval by the end of the year.”
Kouga Municipality portfolio councillor for community services Daniel Benson confirmed that a municipal team was busy on site yesterday.
“The municipality is repairing the breach with sand and rock. Work will be completed today.
“This is in line with an emergency plan developed last year in preparation for the possible breaching of the spit.
“Emergency work is being done in accordance with designs provided by coastal engineers.”
The municipality had been working closely with various stakeholders including the St Francis property owners and riparian home-owners associations and the Kromme Joint River Steering Committee on solutions to buttress the fragile beach zone, he said.
“The municipality is currently fortifying the spit with rocks.
“The first stage of 202m was completed in June and preparations are under way to fortify a further 101m in this way.
“The most recent breach will be considered when determining which areas are to be prioritised.”
The spit was being monitored on a continuing basis to ensure swift action in the event of a breach, Benson said.
‘The groyne project has been a long time coming and we have been working closely with the provincial environment department which needs to review the impact assessment we have commissioned.”
Deon Pienaar
St Francis Property Owners Non-Profit Company spokesperson