Napier beach debris: ‘I’ve never seen as much’
Significant amounts of debris and branches are coating beaches near Napier, as the effects of a wild end to January continue to wash in with the tide.
The Haumoana coastline was covered in driftwood and debris on Wednesday morning, with one resident stating: “I’ve never seen as much along the beach.”
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council says there is no obvious sign the debris is the result of forestry slash, and it includes a mix of tree species rather than just pine.
Logs and branches have also been spotted floating close to the Ahuriri shoreline, and swimmers, boaties and surfers are being asked to take extra care.
Haumoana resident Keith Newman has lived along the coastline since 2009 and had not seen anything like it in terms of the amount of debris.
“It has been building up over the last week, really,” he said.
“I’ve never seen as much along the beach in the whole time I have been here.”
He said he suspected the weather bomb which had impacted large parts of the country in the past week had washed the mess down rivers and into the ocean.
He said it was a “bit of a mess” at present but it would, if historical shoreline trends continued, wash away in the coming weeks.
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council asset management group manager Chris Dolley said there was “no obvious sign” the debris in Haumoana was the result of “forestry slash”. “There is a mix of tree species — and debris size, from small branches to large stems — that have washed up at the high water line, and this is expected following a flood event that flushes flows from the Tukituki River catchment that extends to the Ruahine Ranges and covers about 2500 square kilometres.”
He said a number of factors were behind the debris washing up on shore, but it was “mostly a natural process associated with flushing river flows”.