Unwelcome waves worry neighbours

JANELLE KIRKLAND | 10th March 2010

 I moved to Haumoana because I love the beach, but when that beach came crashing up the steps by my bedroom door, it was not the ocean vista I imagined.

On Sunday night, the sea got dangerously close as swells between 3m and 6m slammed at our concrete wall and crashed down on to our backyard.

As surfers, we admired the clean rolling waves, but as they bore closer and closer we could only clutch our teacups and stare in horror.

The waves were getting bigger, the rumbling was getting louder and our yard was full of water.

It started at about 10pm and by high tide at midnight it was in full force. The whole flat was awake (including some frightened house guests from Taupo) and by 1am the backyard was filled with water about 30cm deep. A kayak had floated from beside the garage down the driveway, and the garage had flooded.

The worst wave came through about 1am, a flying wall of water hurling itself at our house. We shrieked and ran in different directions and watched as it topped up the impromptu pool in the backyard.

Two more steps and the water would have been in the house. A neighbour came by wrapped in a blanket to check on us and all the neighbours' lights were on.

We wondered when Civil Defence would come by and whether it would at all, and now think it should have.

It may have been midnight, but the big swells had been on the swell map for a week, so we knew they were coming. We didn't evacuate ourselves, however, and went to bed when the tide had receded enough by 2am for a sleepless night.

Later that morning, after minimal sleep, much of the water had drained away, although large holes had been sucked in the yard to the beach. A contractor clearing the debris told me this was the worst damage to houses in the five years he had been doing such clean-ups. Although there is still a house, owned by Aucklanders, that is already in pieces about 20 houses down.

It was a surreal time for the normally quiet community, and it became more surreal as we watched the TV crew swarming across the road, and then the footage on the TV at Gannets Bar where locals discussed the issues.

Were the troubles caused by shingle mining? Was climate change causing the sea level to rise?

People sent me text messages: "Is your flat still standing?" One guy sang a song about it.

Now the swell has dropped, the panic is over, but some residents don't feel completely safe. Our neighbour, for one, is still fighting with the regional and city councils to keep his sea wall that he says undoubtedly saved his home and a residents group is calling for five groynes to be installed to deflect giant waves. Swells of between 4m and 7m occur up to three times a year.

Whatever happens, it will need to be done soon, if we are to sleep easy the next time a big swell hits.