By Femi Akinola
Demolition work has begun in earnest on key marine rescue facility in Geraldton, MidWestern Australia, after continuous coastal erosion left it in danger of falling into the ocean.
After about 120 millimetres of rain and high tides in the region last week, the waterfront eroded to about two metres of the structure making it vulnerable to falling into the sea.
The then Barnett-government pumped $880,000 for the building refurbishment in 2016, its current dangerous position forced the City of Greater Geraldton to quickly demolish the building to mitigate further environmental impact.
It was gathered that emergency sandbagging began at the marine rescue building almost a year ago after the waterline got within nine metres of the building at Point Moore.
A coastcare support officer with the Northern Agricultural Catchment Council, Mic Payne, said heavy erosion every winter is not uncommon, but the recent conditions had created a perfect storm.
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He said, ”some of the highest tides of the year have occured this week and last week. That’s obviously increased the sea level and we’ve had this storm front with quite considerable waves coming through.”
Dr. Payne said this year’s weather had been unusual for the area and was decreasing pressure in the atmosphere. We had the cold front, but we had this really strange tropical through which is kind of hanging around a bit.
A Point Moore resident, Sue Chiera said she was surprised how quickly the erosion took hold. ”In 2021, all the community got behind it and got down there and we filled about 2,000 sandbags that sort of hell. It is really sad to see what is happening now.
In the mean time, homes in the coastal suburb are on a lease that can be terminated if the area becomes uninhabitable due to a number of issues, including rising sea level and erosion. Ms. Chiera said the demolition of the marine rescue building left the communities feeling worried about the future of their homes.
She said: ”I don’t know quite where we’ll go with that or what will happen, we just hope that may be it will accrete again like it did round at Grey’s Beach. I guess Mother Nature will have her way.”
Meanwhile, the Geraldton Marine Rescue team has relocated to the City of Greater Geraldton’s multi-purpose centre and they are operating from home.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services, which manages marine rescue, said it would build a two-bay shed at the Geraldton Greenough SES percent to store additional equipment.
