West Australian council sounds alarm on coastal erosion amid fears of a king tide

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A coastal erosion expert has warned no amount of money will be able to save a town in Western Australia’s Mid West facing inevitable inundation. The town of Lancelin is appealing for government support to establish a sand dune to protect the community ahead of a 'king swell' predicted to arrive next month.

Transcript

00:00This public footpath has fallen victim to erosion.

00:06A nearby business owner is calling for urgent action.

00:09It's my livelihood, it's my business, it's my home, it's my community.

00:13It needs to happen sooner rather than later.

00:16Because later, you know, Lancelot might not be here.

00:19Others are less concerned.

00:21Oh, just wait and see a bit, yeah.

00:24Yeah, I don't mind if I walk out the back straight onto the beach there.

00:29If that's what happens, if that's what Mother Nature does, well, I'll go along with it.

00:35The Shire of Jinjin has been told building a sand dune

00:38could protect the nearby hotel and caravan park.

00:41But the cost is more than the small shire can afford

00:44and is appealing for emergency support.

00:47We think it could be around, and this is only an approximate,

00:51$150,000 just to protect this area here.

00:55So we'd like the state to become involved and help us.

01:00In a statement, the state government says it recognises coastal erosion is a critical issue

01:05and it's invested $25 million across five years to help shires protect the coastline.

01:11It didn't respond to questions about whether the current funding model

01:14allowed small communities to react quickly enough when sudden erosion occurs.

01:19Erosion all over the world is going to cost a lot of money.

01:24And the state government, the federal government does not have enough money

01:28to be able to save the coast, all of them.

01:31and the state government does not cost a lot of.

01:33There's still police officials about having troubles though,

01:35all of them.

01:36But otherwise we could save money, right,

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