The Waitaki District Council plans to use a drone to photograph the Kakanui coast to document coastal erosion at sites of concern.
Last month, a low pressure weather system and southwesterlies drove large waves against the North Otago coast, but Waitaki District Council roading manager Michael Voss said erosion in most places was minimal.
The only report of a slip following the stormy weather was at Foyle St in Oamaru.
Mr Voss said about 1m to 1.5m slipped away, taking with it part of the back wall of a shed.
The council also had to shift a safety rail stopping traffic from travelling any further east on Foyle St, for safety purposes, Mr Voss said.
Other areas of concern in the district were inspected and overall, Waitaki had been ''quite fortunate''.
''Basically, along the coast, south of [Cape] Wanbrow, all the way through to Waianakarua, the beaches have actually been aggraded ... they've been built up, which is good.''
Plans were being made to have a drone fly a coastal survey of the Kakanui area, Mr Voss said.
''On Beach Rd, you'll notice there's a lot of [netting] along the side of the road to stop people parking there ... because it's getting undermined quite a bit in a couple of areas,'' he said.
At present, it was too dangerous to lower anyone down the cliff face to inspect the sites of concern.
The Waitaki District Council had allocated $50,000 per year for preventive work, Mr Voss said.
''It's just one of those ongoing things.''
North Otago was not alone in its struggle with coastal erosion, he said. ''It's happening all over the country.''
In Oamaru, concerns had been raised about coastal erosion threatening the railway line.
About six years ago, KiwiRail had a sea wall built, including large amounts of rock armouring, to halt coastal erosion along the Oamaru foreshore and protect its goods yard.
''The coastal section adjacent to the Oamaru rail yards does [have] risks around coastal erosion,'' KiwiRail senior communications adviser David Miller said.
KiwiRail had done significant work to mitigate it and would continue to regularly inspect the area and replace the rock armouring where required.
''We have further assessments planned in this area and will undertake any necessary repairs to the infrastructure if further erosion or damage occurs,'' Mr Miller said.
''This is our main area of current concern in North Otago and we have an ongoing process of reviewing and assessing all relevant sections of the rail corridor to identify further risk.''
