BUTTERWORTH: They could not do anything but look on helplessly as violent waves destroyed their beach restaurants at Pantai Bersih here.Some workers braved the waves and waded into the flooded eateries to try and salvage whatever they could. But many of the restaurants were simply awash with sea water.
One restaurant owner tried to barricade his eatery with sandbags, only to see the waves sweep them away.
The restaurants here had been serving customers for generations and their operators thought they understood the sea.
But Mother Nature evidently has her own ways.
Since Tuesday, Pantai Bersih restaurant owners and workers have been watching the tide tear apart the concrete flooring and seafront extensions and ruin their kitchens.
At least six of the largest operators suffered severe damage to their premises, while dozens of small structures were gone with the waves.
Checks by The Star on the area yesterday revealed that cleaning up the mess was impossible as the waves were still crashing into the restaurants.
With the full moon on Tuesday and many Chinese marking the Mid-Autumn Festival, its influence was at its strongest.
It was also when the Pantai Bersih restaurants were worst hit.
The highest point of the tide was calculated to be 2.4m on Tuesday, 2.6m yesterday and is expected to top 2.7m today and tomorrow.
The neap tide, namely when there is the least difference between high and low tide, is expected to set in next Monday.
Chiou Ah Chong, 61, who has been running his restaurant there for over 20 years, said the recent devastation was beyond any level he had experienced.
“We started small and when we expanded, we ensured that our floor was reinforced by concrete because we knew how rough the waves could become.
“Yet they still came and tore them apart,” he said yesterday.
His restaurant used to have 60 tables – now, they are nowhere to be seen.
Part of the eatery’s roof also collapsed because the pillars broke when the concrete floor gave way from the constant pounding of the waves.
