If you were planning to go to Bondi Beach (or any NSW beach), I have a word of advice. Don’t.
Loads of fucked videos have emerged of Bondi Beach get virtually washed away by waves on Saturday morning. The whole beach was covered, with water flooding on to the promenade and road. Not great!
The vids are properly giving me the heebie jeebies — even more than Bondi usually does.
Reasonably confident that you can’t normally skim board in the north Bondi car park https://t.co/oUTg6zgZrM
— Kate McNamara (@kaydo) April 2, 2022
Bondi Beach right now pic.twitter.com/Qg4Wdno5vg
— DR. A (@draxbt) April 2, 2022
The sea was angry that day my friends. Bondi beach today. pic.twitter.com/J2V8Z6iaM0
— Amanda Goff (@amanda__goff) April 1, 2022
I’ve lived in Sydney most of my life and never seen a tide at Bondi like that https://t.co/JiE4Okbjg0
— Amber (@missrobinson) April 2, 2022
Oof. Bondi Beach this morning is…sans beach. 📷 Jessi Miley-Dyer. pic.twitter.com/5xRfaO806D
— Siobhan Heanue (@siobhanheanue) April 2, 2022
As well as the scenes at Bondi, Bronte Beach also flooded. Waves knocked down a retaining wall at Bronte in case you needed any reminders of how powerful the ocean is.
“We’re getting quite a lot of this now,” Waverley Mayor Paula Masselos told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“This is climate change. We’re dealing with some pretty severe surf conditions so we will be making sure we build good and strong walls.”
The scenes in Sydney came after the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued hazardous surf warnings for almost all of NSW’s coast. Only 11 beaches in NSW were open on Saturday so definitely pack away your goggles and Speedos. In a small reprieve at least, Sydney is being predicted a blessed three days of sunshine from Sunday.
The wild waves are being caused by a deep low pressure system off NSW’s coast as per BOM. As well as the hazardous surf warnings, there are also severe rain warnings for the South Coast and Snowy Mountains.
As a fun little bonus, there are also damaging surf warnings for all of the South and Central Coast. Feeling great about the state of the environment RN.
Very heavy #surf is affecting much of the #NSW coast this weekend, and warnings are current for dangerous conditions🌊
Warnings also for heavy #rain for the NSW #SouthCoast and #Gippsland
Latest: https://t.co/O3KjcY1KjC
📹 Shannon Ryan – Mollymook Beach, NSW pic.twitter.com/X7ll8AGgr2
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) April 1, 2022
DANGEROUS SWELL: Properties along NSW’s Central Coast are being battered by the high tide and severe wind conditions.
A hazardous surf warning is in place for almost ALL of the NSW Coastline.
MORE INFO: https://t.co/j8SRh45cl8
#9News pic.twitter.com/9TFkwVDOwP
— 9News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) April 2, 2022
An article published in the New Scientist in 2015 argued that a combo of rising sea levels and big ‘ol storms could eventually erode the sand on beaches like Bondi. Great news, great news.
So if our sea levels keep creeping on upwards, there’s a solid chance we can expect worse than a very wet footpath at Bondi Beach.
