Some Durban beaches closed for long weekend

Several Durban beaches will be closed over the long weekend ahead of big swells that are expected to hit the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) coast, eThekwini municipality authorities said today.

"The eThekwini municipality will today close a number of beaches along the city's coastline as the Natal Sharks Board will remove shark nets at beaches north of the Suncoast Casino," said the municipality in a statement released late today. "This is largely due to the fact that the Durban weather office has advised that a large wave swell is forecast to pick up overnight tomorrow, peaking on Saturday with heights of 4.5m on the South Coast and 3.5m on the North Coast."

Last month the KZN coast was pounded by enormous surf which claimed the life of one person and caused infrastructure damage worth millions of rands. Paul Bevis, the Durban's National Sea Rescue Institute's Durban station commander, said that while the swells would be bigger than normal they would not be anything close to the swells of between eight and 10m experienced last month.

Deborah Luddick, the Hibiscus Coast Tourism spokesperson, said she was not aware of any beaches being closed on the South Coast, including the popular resort of Margate where the 11th annual Pro Am body boarding competition is being held. "Maybe bigger and better is better (for the body boarders)," said Luddick. - Sapa