Geraldton Marine Rescue commander watches erosion eat at vegetation near Bob Davies Park in Point Moore

Coastal erosion now threatens the park next to Geraldton’s Marine Rescue base following a storm that saw waves encroach the vegetation either side of the sandbag wall protecting the building. The future of the Point Moore base was unclear last year after strong winter swell and storm surges sucked about 15m of coastline in front of the building. A manmade wall of sandbags and mesh sheets were piled along the washed out dunes as a stop-gap measure to save the base. The protective measure is hoped to prevent the shoreline from approaching within 6m of the building, which would result in volunteers being forced to evacuate the building. Commander Damien Healy said the sandbags were doing their job to protect the base, but now the vegetation on the north and south of the base in front of Bob Davies Park was beginning to be eaten away. “There’s waves rolling up to where the sand bank is, but it’s also going up into the vegetation south of the base, so it’s starting to encroach on the park,” he said. “Our sandbagging and meshing worked to protect the base, but the erosion is happening either side of us.” The park area is facilitated with a shower, barbecue and seating that is often used by beach goers and tourists. Mr Healy said volunteers were hoping for less storms this winter so the dunes could naturally rebuild, but the storm on Monday had done the opposite. “I was watching the water rushing into the vegetation south of the base and then it was just dragging out all the dirt with it, all the soil and was just getting sucked out in the water,” he said. A Mid West Port Authority harbour master confirmed more than 6m swells were recorded on Monday with maximum wind gusts of 53 knots.