This photo shows Cook Strait forces operating
at Te Raiekaihau Point.
I live several hundred meters up the valley from this point.
Three or four years ago I became aware of
powerful
pulses of air comng up the valley. It was a strange experience as
it was a perfectly still night.
I walked down the coast and found enormous
waves rolling in and
pounding the cliffs. Standing high up the road the air blast they created was
like a punch in the face. I could hear the cliff eroding under me.
As the new construction in this photo shows, attempts to sustain the
cliff have been expensive.
I later heard that 14 meter waves were measured at sea that still night here.
Note A NOAA buoy registered unprededented 58 ft
waves off the US just before
they lost contact with it in the recent Katrina Storm (September 2005).
Any trend for cyclones to move further down into the South Pacific
would increase the risk of such surges and waves here.
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