Durban beach front was closed on Sunday after 10 foot swells battered the famous promenade.
Emergency services were on high alert as the ocean rose up to meet the walkway.
Rescue Care Operations Director, Garrith Jamieson, was at the beach front on Sunday called the scene "chaotic".
“The waves were easily ten-foot, they broke right over the peer and went into the shops and over the car park.”
Rescue Care
Large swells made their way into beach front restaurants. Photo: Rescue Care
“It was a force of a current; I saw it push right up stairs.”
Jamieson said that the beaches were closed on Monday, “I was there this morning, the swells are still quite big and the beach is still closed”.
Mbavhi Maliage from the South African Weather Service said that they were only expecting a maximum of 2.5 meter swells with a wind speed of five to 10 knots.
Maliage said that the biggest swells had already occurred the previous day.
Rescue Care
Photo: Rescue Care
Sea Rescue South Africa spokesperson Craig Lambinon said that the high seas were only expected to last as long as the spring tide which was at its peak on Sunday. “We are aware that eThekwini municipality closed the beaches yesterday [Sunday] at around noon and we are also told that the strong winds added to the sized of the swell.”
Rescue Care
Photo: Rescue Care
Lambinon also said that it is a common misconception that the high winds were caused by Tropical Cyclone Enawo, who made landfall over the north-eastern parts of Madagascar on the 7th March. “The high winds have nothing at all to do with the cyclone,” he said.
Rescue Care
Photo: Rescue Care
Gugu Mbonambi from the eThekwini Municipality said that she was unable to comment on the beach front closures until after the municipal press conference.
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