Fridges, pontoons, furniture, pumpkins and even a cow are some of the strange things to have washed up on Central Coast beaches following huge storms which savaged the region from March 18-23.
Central Coast Council is continuing a major clean-up effort to restore the Coast’s roads, waterways and foreshores.
Over the weekend of March 27-28, Council crews collected more than 615 tonnes of seaweed from Terrigal Haven Beach and 87 tonnes of dry seagrass wrack from around 1.6kms of the Tuggerah Lakes foreshore.
Council Acting Chief Executive Officer, Rik Hart, said he was appreciative of how the community has come together to support the clean-up.
“We all know that natural materials – especially seagrass and seaweed – wash up on our foreshores after these events,” Hart said.
“Over the weekend we received many reports from community groups and members who had noticed debris washing up on our beaches, in some cases they have worked together to safely move these items up away from the water, ready for us to collect.
“In other cases, the items were too large or dangerous to move and the community alerted us to the location of these objects.
“By doing this, they have made it much easier for us to know where the hot spots are, and I want to thank them for taking the time to alert us to these issues.
“The damage to our local roads has been much worse than we have seen before and our crews have been hard at work to prioritise the safety of our road users.
“Council has completed significant road repairs at Kulnura, Terrigal and Umina Beach and repaired more than 2,600 potholes across our road networks.
“We understand there are many residents still cleaning up as well.
“Residents can place seagrass and vegetation debris in a safe location next to access roads or pathways within foreshore reserves, or on the kerbside outside of their property and we will come and collect it.
“Resident may also book a bulk collection through Council’s contractor Cleanaway to remove flood affected waste or take it to their local waste management facility for a reduced fee.
“While we will continue to work across the Coast, I would encourage the community to keep letting us know when you see something that needs our attention; be it debris on our beaches, a pothole that needs our attention or some other storm damage, you are our eyes and ears and we can only fix it if we know it’s there.”
Hart reminded the community that swimming was still not recommended at local beaches, ocean baths and estuarine swimming sites as the clean-up continues.
Beaches remained closed until at least March 31, with further evaluations to come.
To book a seagrass collection, residents can contact Council on 1300 463 954 or book online though the “Report an Issue” button on the homepage of Council’s website.
Source:
Media release, Mar 30
Central Coast Council