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Video: Huge waves pound seawall | Otago Daily Times Online News : Otago, South Island, New Zealand & International News


St Clair Beach was bombarded by monsters from the deep yesterday evening. The seawall at the Esplanade shook from the impact of 2m waves, which were breaking 50m offshore and sending spray 20m into the air. 
Seawater covered the 6m-wide walkway and nearly reached the road. 
Dozens of people visited the Esplanade to see the big wave action, take photographs and play in the spray.
''I could see the spray from Andersons Bay. At first, I thought it was sea mist,'' St Kilda Surf Life Saving Club member Steve Wilson said.
However, the waves were even bigger on Saturday night, he said.
''I've never seen a tide like that. It was the biggest I've ever seen around the Dunedin coast.
''It was coming up the drains in Portsmouth Dr and either side of the Edgar Centre was under a foot (30cm) of water.''
A clutch of intrepid surfers braved the waves yesterday, but took care to keep close to the St Clair Salt Water Pool.
The Surf Forecast website recorded the swell at 2.11m at 6pm yesterday. A 1.7m high tide is expected at 6.30am today and a 2.8m high tide at 7pm.
Dunedin City Council parks and reserves manager Lisa Wheeler said staff would be checking the dunes for erosion caused by the high seas today as soon as the tides allowed.
A MetService severe weather watch for high winds in Otago was dropped last night. North Otago bore the brunt of high winds yesterday with gale force gusts of 46kmh to 64kmh experienced at Oamaru and Moeraki in the afternoon.
-nigel.benson@odt.co.nz

Council to share costs of repair | Otago Daily Times Online News : Otago, South Island, New Zealand & International News


The Dunedin City Council is cutting its losses but still faces a six-figure bill for repairs to the St Clair sea wall, after agreeing to share costs with the company responsible for the project's design.
Work is expected to begin shortly to remove some of the wall's stairs and a ramp, leading from the Esplanade down to St Clair Beach. Other stairs along the sea wall will be strengthened.
In all, three stairways and one ramp in the middle section of the wall will be removed and five stairways at either end will be retained and strengthened.
The council had reached a settlement with design firm Spiire to split the estimated $250,000 bill, meaning each party would pay about $125,000, council city operations general manager Tony Avery confirmed yesterday.
However, the exact cost would depend on the tender process for the work, which was yet to be concluded, and neither party had accepted liability for the sea wall's faults, Mr Avery said.
''It's one of those situations. We've come to an agreement where we'll just get it sorted without any admission of liability.
''It's the nature of the agreement.''
Mr Avery said the council had opted for the deal rather than pursue expensive and risky court action.
''It's trying to get the best outcome we can, recognising the risks around any sort of fraught legal action.
''We're just pleased we've actually come to an arrangement and focused on getting the thing fixed up.''
The repairs were needed after repeated damage to the wall's stairs and ramp since 2004, which were blamed on a mixture of design and construction faults and saw concrete cracked and steel rods exposed by pounding seas.
The sea wall was designed by Duffill Watts and King, which later merged with Commes Consulting in Australia to become CPG, before morphing again to become Spiire late last year.
Council staff have been in talks with the company about a possible settlement for more than a year, and even after councillors pushed last year to begin court action to cover the cost of repairs.
Council staff had cautioned against that, citing likely legal costs of up to $150,000.
A ramp leading from the Esplanade to the beach had since been closed, and partly removed, following storm damage, but the rest would be removed as part of the refurbishment.
Three stairs down to the beach, located closest to Beach St, would also be removed, but another set of stairs at Beach St would be strengthened, as would four stairways closest to Forbury Rd.
Council transportation operations manager Graeme Hamilton said the council had called for tenders last week, but a limited response meant the process might be repeated before work began.
It was expected the work would be completed by mid-June.
The work would be in addition to the council's $346,000 bill for repairs to the sea wall's balustrade last year, after its galvanised steel handrail did not stand up to conditions as well as expected.
Mr Avery said the latest repairs could require some temporary restrictions to beach access while work was carried out.