Seaspray lifesaving club member Ron Smith watched the Gippsland storm come in and whip away the beach. Picture: Richard Cisar-Wright

Here ya go, Chad. You shouldn't limit your observation of severe near shore storms to the Northern Hemisphere. This is from your buddy's newspaper; Rupert. The Australian. See indeed. Australia. Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'.

Elements have country on the move (click here)
Natasha Robinson and Paige Taylor
July 14, 2007
THEY began on the NSW central coast and rolled along the eastern seaboard, pummelling the beaches along the way - the stormy swells, gale-force winds and heavy rainfall exacting their toll on the shoreline.
While the experts won't give the official nod, the series of winter storms along the east coast over the past month appears to clearly spell the end of what we were told was the mother of all droughts.
At least five east coast low-pressure systems -- rapidly developing weather events that bring gale-force winds and severe flooding -- have buffeted the east coast since early June.
They have caused havoc, wiping out large seams of coastline and threatening properties from the Hunter region of NSW right down to Seaspray, about 50km south of Lakes Entrance on Victoria's Gippsland Coast, where locals are laying tea-tree in front of the Surf Life Saving clubhouse this weekend in an attempt to hold back the ocean and save the clubhouse building.