Cascade Pier Tons of Rocks Clean Up February 2022 & 2023

Last year I reported on Tropical Cyclone Dovi which passed 200 km to the West of Norfolk

Island as a Category 3 storm on the 11 and 12 February 2022. The winds swept up massive swells predicted to reach 8 to 9 metres. These waves smashed into the coastline of Norfolk Island and the area at Cascade Pier showed the strength of the waves.

Last weekend, exactly one year later another Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle tracked across Norfolk Island as a Category 2 storm, and it also smashed into Cascade Pier and a few brave locals visited the area and photographed the swells recording the latest cyclone for history.

Both of these cyclones threw hundreds of massive boulders and rocks onto the roadway entry to the Cascade Pier, these were extremely heavy and last year, some of the boulders were half the size of a car. Walking amongst the boulders helped to imagine the strength of the ocean and what damage the waves can cause, the fury of the storms had left its mark on Norfolk Island.

On Sunday afternoon, I drove to Cascade Pier after Tropcial Cyclone Gabrielle had passed and was amazed to see so many rocks and boulders were once again covering the lower roadway area. Also, concrete slabs were ripped up and thrown around and washed up to the cliff base.

I wonder if the new design of the upgraded Cascade Pier had been the reason for the boulders to be blasted out of the water with the new wave deflector along the side of the extended Pier. Lucky the cranes and gantry survived the cyclone, and I am sure they will be inspected before they are next used.

The local workers will need heavy machinery to clear the boulders back along the foreshore where they were washed up from, along the side of the upgraded Cascade Pier. The boulders and rocks will need to be move back into the sea to give the Cascade Pier protection to future storms and ocean swells.

There are suggestions that a slip way or groyne should be constructed at the Cascade Pier to

assist with shipping and possible future barge services. Overseas engineers have presented designs in recent years, but it is always wise to talk to local Norfolk Islanders as they have the experience of sea conditions around Norfolk Island coastlines.

In 2016, and 2017 the Cascade Pier was upgraded and extended, but Tropical Cyclone Dovi and Tropical Cyclone Gabrielle showed the power of the ocean is not easy to tame. It is amazing to think that both cyclones were on the same date, but it is cyclone season, but wonder what the odds of having two massive cyclones at Norfolk Island on the same date?

Here are a few images I took on the weekend at Cascade Pier, plus from February 2022, showing the massive rocks and boulders that were thrown onto the pier roadway, turning it into a rocky road and the clean-up underway in 2022. Thank you to the local workers for clearing the entry way to the pier so fisherman can now launch their boats again.

Betty Matthews

February 2023