Wild weather along NSW Coast

 Wild weather along NSW Coast – Floating debris is a massive danger

Ex cyclone Uesi which formed in the Coral Sea is not following the normal path of tracking eastwards over New Caledonia towards Tonga. For some reason best known to the Gods it has decided to travel south down the Tasman Sea passing over Lord Howe Island and then moving further south before swinging eastwards towards the south Island of New Zealand.

For those on the water and there should be nobody sailing offshore at this time of year it would have posed a difficult decision because it is not following the normal track and we all know the south west corner of any southern hemisphere revolving storm is not the place to be.

Now the east coast of Australia lies in this part of the storm sector so we can only hope it stay well offshore and dissipates as it gain pressure and become only a depression.

On the coast north of Sydney the impact of heavy rain, flash flooding and these wild seas is causing beaches to be washed away at Collaroy, Narrabeen and further north while here on the South Coast we are faced with a further challenge of floating burnt trees, branches and all matter of debris. This will reduce the energy of the waves and may reduce the wave erosion but it will along with the high tides cause this flotsam to be washed onto the beaches and further up the sand. Not a good look but a potential danger over a longer period of time as it is gradually washed out to sea.

For those putting to sea over the next six months it will be a challenge not only along the near coast but much further out to sea as the current takes this floating danger south and then off into the west wind drift and into the Southern Ocean.

There has been and will continue to be a grave hazard to vessels moored in the rivers of the South Coast as the floating logs and branches are carried towards the ocean. They get tangled in the mooring lines increase the water resistance when finally either the line breaks or the vessel and mooring is carried away. We saw this with the dredge Bar Maid which came off an inappropriate mooring in the Clyde River and apparently damaged two vessels. Will the mooring owner face any consequences? Of course not but that is a further detailed discussion.