Beachfront homes on the NSW Central Coast are at risk of structural collapse after powerful surf caused severe erosion with residents fearful another event could mean houses are lost.
Wild weather has battered much of the coastline from the Central Coast to northern NSW throughout the week, with large swells causing erosion and damage to beaches.
Beachfront homes are at risk of collapse and Wamberal residents have been advised by the NSW State Emergency Service to evacuate.
Fire & Rescue officers were on Thursday night called to Ocean View Drive in Wamberal to respond to several beachfront homes at "significant" risk of structural collapse due to coastal erosion, Terrigal Fire Station said on Facebook.
Chris Rogers, who lives on Ocean View Drive, said at least 40 homes have had their frontage completely destroyed.
"We've got an engineer telling us our whole frontage could slip away at any minute," he told AAP on Friday.
"If it hits us hard again, it's going to be us and potentially others that lose their house into the water."
It's not the first time coastal erosion has wreaked havoc in the area this year, with Mr Rogers saying there have been at least three events already.
He argues the local council has been aware of the issue for years and was given state government funding in 2016 to reduce the risk, after a severe weather event caused significant erosion along the coastline.
"What does it take? Someone getting killed? A house going in the water? Someone getting impaled by pipes sticking out?" Mr Rogers said.
Frustrated residents are calling for a seawall to be built to protect the battered beach and their homes.
"We're not disputing the fact we live on the beach, we get it," he said.
"It should be protected as an asset for the whole community ... we know the solution is a seawall."
Central Coast Council said there had been significant erosion and sand loss, and urged people to avoid the beaches.
"Council teams have been on the ground checking in on residents in impacted areas, and continuing to monitor coastal infrastructure and coastal lagoon levels," a spokeswoman told AAP in a statement on Friday.
Further north at Newcastle's Stockton Beach, where coastal erosion has been a problem for decades, the latest weather event has local Simon Jones fearing the worst.
"It has basically been destroyed," the Northside Boardriders' Club president said of the beach.
He estimated up to 30 metres of beach has been lost in the past three years, with residents worried the erosion has been accelerating during a five-year period.
Huge swells wreaked havoc in September last year, with the erosion so severe it forced the permanent closure of the suburb's only childcare centre.
"What upsets a lot of people is that this has been a problem for such a long time," Mr Jones told AAP on Friday.
"People are seeing more and more of their beach disappearing year after year."
Newcastle City Council has sandbagged parts of the beach to reduce the impact of erosion and has developed a coastal management plan that includes long-term actions to manage and protect Stockton's coastline.
The plan needs to be approved by the NSW government before it can be implemented.
Mr Jones said any plan needs to address the root cause of the problem, which he argues has been created by operations and infrastructure at the nearby Port of Newcastle.
"The rock wall that was put up in 1989 ... it was a band-aid on a small part of the beach," he said.
Australian Associated Press
