ON EDGE FOR OMA
GOLD Coast beaches are already experiencing heavy erosion as the city prepares for battering waves from Tropical Cyclone Oma. Swells of up to five metres are expected to hit the Coast from tonight, with meteorologists closely monitoring the storm. Timothy Davies, 12, from Labrador, was among beachgoers at The Spit yesterday.
BUSINESSES and council workers are taking no chances in preparing the city for battering waves from Tropical Cyclone Oma.
Waves of up to five metres are expected to hit the Coast from tonight with beaches already experiencing heavy erosion.
Oma last night sat off the west coast of New Caledonia, tracking slowly towards Australia.
It is not yet known whether it will cross the coast or where, with meteorologists closely monitoring the storm.
Erosion was already being reported on Gold Coast beaches yesterday.
Oma could prove to be a big test for the $11 million revamp of the Burleigh Pavilion.
The Pavilion general manager John Forest, who also has oversight of Rick Shores restaurant underneath, said high-tide levels were being monitored ahead of Cyclone Oma’s expected wild weather and heavy swell later this week.
He said conditions this morning would give a better indication of what might be coming.
“We’re expecting more swell and we’ll start making some decisions,” Mr Forest said.
But he said he was feeling relaxed about the popular venue’s structure coping with high winds and waves crashing on the rocks below.
The restructure had included fitting Rick Shores with four large sets of removable bi-fold doors specifically for such a storm event.
“When we get enough warning and preparation with weather events we can react without too much damage,’’ he said. “Rick Shores, being operated on that lower floor, is the most concern. But from (today) we will make an assessment as to what the high tide is doing.
“At the Pavilion we will be removing all items that aren’t bolted down.’’
Last year, as May Hotels began reconstruction of the pavilion, spokesman Justin Tynan told the Bulletin restoration and future proofing were such that “if there is a storm coming we can pop all those windows out and let the sea in, then it’s an easy cleanup before we reopen”.
Council workers yesterday removed fencing and a shower from the southern end of Kirra, which has already been affected by surging tides. Fencing was also removed at Currumbin. Erosion has also been reported at The Spit and Burleigh Heads.
Weatherzone metrologist Craig McIntosh said the surf would become more wild by the weekend.
“Oma is now a category 3 tropical cyclone but it is not in Australian waters yet and there is the possibility it will do this late on Wednesday or Thursday,” he said.
“By the weekend the surf will be massive.”