Vic Bay erosion a huge concern

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GEORGE NEWS - All the homes in Victoria Bay were damaged to some extent when a massive swell hit the small bay last weekend. Chairperson of the Victoria Bay Home Owners Association, Neil Schalkwyk, also owner of Lands End, said everyone suffered damage to their property - some more than others.

"Most garages were flooded, garage doors and sliding doors broken. The Black Pearl was hit by the biggest wave, which caused damage to its interior and furniture. Everything was flooded."

According to Schalkwyk, the biggest damage was caused to the road leading down the houses and the retaining wall at the beginning of the road.

"There is also damage to the small paths to the gates and the bins, which we maintain as homeowners," he said. "But what worries me most is the erosion damage. We are trying to fix the most urgent areas ourselves, where we see the road is going to collapse, but there is no way we can carry the cost of all the major repairs. We spent R100 000 on the road last year.

"One of the walls at the beach has major structural problems. The sea just eats away at the walls, making caves underneath the road. Closing the holes with sand, as the municipality has done, will not help."

Schalkwyk has a lot of praise for the municipality's Electrotechnical Department, that fixed their electricity within two days after the electrical boxes washed away.

PHOTO GALLERY: Large swells cause havoc at Vic Bay

The retaining wall at the start of the road is caving in.

Bags of debris

Several bags of debris had been filled for removal on the beach at Victoria Bay by noon Monday morning, 18 September. "Throughout the morning people drove to the beach to witness the carnage," said Michelle Graham, owner of the restaurant Vikki's at the Beach.

Workers of the Extended Public Work Programme and Working for the Coast were diligently filling more black bags as they swept the area. Everything looked calm and serene. It was almost impossible to imagine it was the very same sea where the entire wooden walkway collapsed under the force of the waves only two days earlier, on Saturday 16 September.

Graham said they closed the restaurant for the day, because of the cold. "We came down later to check it out. We've never seen it as high before," said Graham.

Déjà vu

Fifteen years ago, on 1 September 2008, there was an incredibly big swell that did a lot of damage to the houses. The late John Pfaff, a well-known Vic Bay surfer, published some of the photos in a book which was distributed among a few family friends and residents.

"This is the first time since then that the circumstances matched like that, and that it was as big, causing so much damage," said Martyn Emmink, owner of Surfends Surf School.

"The waves were over 20 feet high. An incredibly big swell had built up and peaked at exactly the same time when the tide was at its highest. The wind also blew from the sea to the shore. Everything worked together to cause the water to reach such a height."