At least seven homes in Collaroy have been severely damaged and a unit block is under threat after huge waves and king tides eroded about 50 metres of beachfront at Collaroy and Narrabeen. Sand bags surround Collaroy properties on Wednesday morning following another king tide that hit on Tuesday night. Credit:Peter Rae More than 10,000 sandbags had been deployed to shore up vulnerable beachfront homes ahead of the arrival of another king tide about 10pm on Tuesday. The damaged properties survived the king tide, which the Bureau of Meteorology said was the last for this storm event. The bureau early on Wednesday cancelled the severe weather warning for NSW that had been in place since the weekend.

"Forecast tides are expected to remain very high until the weekend, however king tides are no longer expected," the bureau said. The Collaroy Beach Hotel was damaged by strong surf. Credit:Janie Barrett "There remains a small risk of beach erosion and coastal inundation for low-lying areas. The situation will continue to be monitored and further warnings issued if necessary." The bureau warned that dangerous surf conditions were expected to persist throughout Wednesday. Endicott Ackerman, 20, (left) is missing after he was spotted diving into rough seas at Bondi Beach on Monday. Credit:Facebook

Despite the council-endorsed and state government-approved 2014 Coastal Zone Management Plan recommendation to install a seawall to help prevent coastal erosion and limit damage to properties in Collaroy, no progress has been made to shore up the erosion-prone residential zone. "It's not the council's job to put the seawall in," said Northern Beaches Council administrator, Dick Persson. "2014 plans allow for a seawall to be put in and the individual landowners could have well moved to do it but there are still unresolved issues around the funding and that hasn't been tackled in the way I'm now going to tackle it." Workers commence a sandbagging operation on Tuesday to try to stop the collapse of an apartment building. Credit:Janie Barrett Northern Beaches Council general manager Mark Ferguson said affected residents - none of whom are said to have objected to 2014's recommendations - may need to contribute 25 to 50 per cent of funds for the work, estimated by coastal engineer Angus Gordon to cost about $10 million. About 30 affected residents, many of whom are staying in council-funded temporary accommodation, met council on Tuesday. Mr Persson said all supported the building of coastal defences, with some suggesting an obligatory levy to cover their costs.

Malcolm Turnbull thanks volunteers in Picton. Credit:Andrew Meares Detached homes may need to pay $120,000 to $140,000 while unit holders in residential blocks would pay a smaller portion. Current legislation means that contributions must be voluntary. Resident Mark Greville, part of whose home and karate school business now hangs precariously above waves, said that when he bought his home in 1996, he was "under the impression" that coastal defences, such as boulders, extended along the front of his home but were hidden by sand. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and Deputy Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek tour the storm affected Coogee Surf Life Saving Club. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen He said he believed that nearby isolated seawalls had made the weekend's wave damage worse than it might have been.

The northern beaches seafront has a long history of wrangles over sea defences, with a 3000 person-strong protest against a seawall 20 years ago. Seawalls are known to impact beach use and council inaction over preventing erosion is largely blamed on community-driven policy. "People have had a wake-up call. It's more serious than ever and possibly it's easier for an administrator to advance these things than an elected government," Mr Persson said. "It's been coming for 100 years and it often takes a tragedy like has occurred here for these homeowners to move things up a gear." And while residents are expected to shore up their homes, the community may have long advantaged from those properties' existence. Engineer Mr Gordon said earlier on Tuesday that the damaged homes "acted as a seawall" to the major infrastructure of Pittwater Road.

"The beach is 50 metres narrower now than it was on Saturday afternoon," said Professor Ian Turner, the director of the Water Research Laboratory at the University of NSW. "Also, in the area where we surveyed, for every metre along the beach we've seen up to 150 cubic metres of sand stripped off the upper beach, and it is now sitting out there in the surf zone. "The storm is certainly starting to abate, but there are still very large waves, and still a large tide, which are continuing to cause damage along the beachfront." The Sydney storm on Tuesday became the focus of the federal election campaign with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten diverting from their schedules to visit affected communities.

Mr Turnbull toured Picton, the town on Sydney's south-western fringe that saw its main street turn into a waist-deep river, where he praised the community response. He said emergency funding would be available for 37 local government areas affected by the storm across the state. Retired NSW Police deputy commissioner Dave Owens has been appointed state recovery co-ordinator and will oversee the clean-up and recovery effort. "Thank God you're here," Mr Turnbull told a group of assembled SES volunteers while doing a street walk. "These tough times, they bring out the best in Australia." Mr Shorten visited Coogee, in the east, which was battered by the vicious king tide, and said "we must look after each other during these very tough times". Search continues for missing Bondi swimmer

Large and powerful surf conditions hampered Tuesday's search for missing swimmer Endicott Ackerman, 20, who was last seen jumping into the ocean at Bondi on Monday afternoon. The University of Sydney student was dressed only in his board shorts when he jumped off the rocks and into waves that towered up to several metres as a result of the weekend's powerful east coast low. Witnesses told police they saw the young American man struggling before he disappeared. A frantic search for the student, believed to be from St John's College, was launched immediately but suspended due to fading light. Police said it would resume again at first light on Wednesday. Three men have already died as a result of the storm - all washed away while driving their vehicles in floodwaters in separate incidents at Leppington, Bowral in the Southern Highlands and near Cotter Dam in the ACT.

Two people are also missing in floodwaters in Tasmania, where more than 200 properties have been flooded and 100 people rescued by helicopter, in what has been described as the worst floods in that state for 40 years. With Megan Levy, Georgina Mitchell