Beachside residents in Sydney's north hope a sandbagging operation will save their damaged million-dollar homes as they teeter on the badly eroded coastline facing another "abnormally high tide".
Up to 10 beachside homes and a unit block at Collaroy were evacuated on Sunday night during the state's wild storms as eight-metre waves slammed the coast, washing away backyards, balconies and a swimming pool.
Emergency crews have been busy making more than 3000 sandbags to wedge between an eroded rock wall and the damaged Pittwater Road homes which face an "abnormally high tide" predicted by the Bureau of Meteorology for Tuesday night.
It's hoped the sandbags will fortify the rock wall, stopping more sand being gouged out to sea before the 10.30pm tide.
Northern Beaches Council Administrator Dick Persson said the next step would be building a long-talked about and previously protested sea wall.
"I think it's inevitable that some sort of wall will be built at some point," he told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
While Mr Persson hoped a sea wall could be built by the end of the year, the result would be determined by funding, with the possibility of residents who live on the beachfront covering up to 50 per cent of costs, he said.
Ten homes were examined forensically by engineers on Tuesday, with seven of those severely affected.
Authorities accompanied some residents who went into their homes to retrieve more belongings, including Rob Orth from the bottom floor of a unit block.
"I'm worried, I can't do much about it," he said.
"They need to build a (proper) sea wall, it's painfully obvious."
Although the unit had been protected by a rock wall, it wasn't enough to stop the water from gouging out the six-metre garden and sand beneath a part of the unit.
For Gary Silk, from a neighbouring home further south, even sandbags would be useless against impending high tides as the house wasn't protected by any sort of wall.
His entire in-ground swimming pool was ripped out from the backyard.
"It's a matter of waiting, we have two nights to be worried about," he told AAP.
To add to residents' woes, many of the beachfront Collaroy homes are not likely to be insured against damage from the sea, said the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).
