All beaches have now been closed for Monday, February 19, as surf conditions continue to deteriorate as a result of tropical Cyclone Gita battering the east coast.
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Port Macquarie head lifeguard James Turnham said that rough conditions had forced closed all beaches across the Hastings.
“As of lunchtime there are no open beaches in the Hastings so our strongest advice is that people avoid going into the water,” Mr Turnham said.
“We are expecting the conditions to get worse as the low tide continues so it is best people do not venture into the water.”
The large and dangerous swell began on February 16 and continued over the weekend, but Weatherzone meteorologist Jacob Cronje said the conditions are not expected to ease until mid week at this stage.
“Looking at the swell, conditions are going to get worse before the get better, with swells expected to be around two to three metres today, and worse tomorrow,” Mr Cornje said.
“The large swells across the NSW coast are associated with Tropical Cyclone Gita but will only ease as the system moves east towards New Zealand.
“At this stage we are anticipating hazardous surf conditions until Wednesday.”
Mr Cronje said the warm temperatures are going to hang around for the week despite expected rain.
“Generally the Port Macquarie-Hastings area will have partly cloudy conditions with expected early morning and evening rains but people can expect temperatures to stay in the mid to high 20s,” he said.
“We are also anticipating thunderstorms next weekend.”
James Turnham said dangerous conditions had forced lifeguards hands.
“We opened Town Beach this morning but since lunch the swell was so bad that we have since had to close the beach,” Mr Turnham said.
“Flynns Beach has been closed all day due to the hazardous surf conditions; and there is a good chance it will be closed again tomorrow as the surf is expected to be worse.
“We always advise people to only swim at patrolled beaches and between the flags, but it is especially important when the surf conditions are hazardous.”
Mr Turnham also said that despite thousands of extra people in Port Macquarie over the weekend for the Junior State Cup, generally beach goers were well behaved.
“It was great to see so many people swimming between the flags over the weekend, obviously there were a lot more people in town but generally everyone was doing the right thing,” he said.
“We had a handful of rescues over the weekend but considering the amount of extra people in town, nothing serious, which was good to see.”
This comes after more than 150 people were rescued from the surf over the weekend across NSW.
