Coastal residents ’emotionally charged’ as erosion threatens houses

Mother nature is flexing her muscles as 18 houses and cribs on a western Southland coastline are in danger of being swallowed by the sea.

Ultimately, the owners may be forced to relocate their homes elsewhere.

Affected residents have met with the Southland District Council and Environment Southland this week to discuss options on how to deal with encroaching coastal erosion, which is causing serious concern.

“Mother nature is showing her mighty power and force,” said Southland District mayor Rob Scott, who had been liaising with the coastal residents at Bluecliffs, near Tuatapere.

“It’s having an adverse effect on a number of properties. I feel for them, they are quite emotionally charged.”

The Bluecliffs Beach Rd coastline was dotted with 18 houses in a row, six with permanent residents and 12 cribs.

The Waiau River ran past the back of the houses and a gravel bar (sandbar) separated the river from the sea.

However, the ocean had been eating away at the gravel bar and the waves were now crossing the bar at high tide. During storms the ocean was driving into the embankment the houses were located on, putting it under threat of eventual collapse.

Bluecliffs resident Rex Rowe who lived in one of the coastal houses with his partner Lyn Rowe, said the last storm took 3 to 4m off the embankment where 10 of the houses were located.

“This is happening very quickly.”

He feared the embankment would eventually collapse and the houses would be swallowed by the sea.

The river mouth had moved east to be perilously close to the section of coastline occupied by the houses. If the mouth ended up in front of the houses, the occupants would have to evacuate as there would be no protection from the bar, he said.

A section of Bluecliffs Beach Rd in line with the river mouth, just west of the houses, had already been swallowed by the sea.

It was unknown where the river mouth would end up, or whether the gravel bar would build up again and give the houses protection, he said.

To buy time, he wanted authorities to redirect the river mouth further east, well away from the houses.

This would result in the section of river at the back of the houses essentially turning into a lagoon, and the ocean would push the gravel bar into the embankment the houses are located on, giving the embankment protection from the sea, he said.

“At the end of the day we might have to suck it up, in that nothing can be done,” Rowe said.

Scott said redirecting the river mouth was not a straightforward process through the Resource Management Act, but thought it was worth exploring.

It would give residents time, but he indicated the long term solution was probably the removal of the properties from the coastline.

“No one has ever taken on Mother Nature and won.”

Environment Southland senior staffer Paul Hulse said the Waiau River mouth was a dynamic environment, moving up to 3km over time with changes in lagoon outflow, the river, tidal flows and ocean swells.

“These factors are accelerating erosion in the area,” Hulse said.

Engineering options for preventing further erosion were extremely limited by legislation, which meant there was a very high bar for granting consents for activities in the coastal marine area, and also significant cost.

“Erosion of coastal areas around the country is heightening the need for many communities to start these sorts of conversations around managed retreat.”

Ongoing erosion of such areas was inevitable and Environment Southland was committed to working with the Southland District Council on the issue, Hulse said.