Large swells and king tides impacted the Matakana Coast on Thursday morning, with no sand visible for morning walkers along Omaha Beach. 

Seaweed and driftwood from the high tide has been pushed all the way to the dunes on Omaha Beach.

At high tide on Thursday morning, the water was rushing over the grass and into the carpark at Mathesons Bay, causing extensive flooding, and a digger had to be brought in to direct the water back into the ocean. 

MetService had issued a warning for possibly hazardous coastal conditions saying, "heavy easterly swell continues to impact the coastline until Thursday".

According to NIWA's alerts, the king tides peaked yesterday. There are strong king tides for the next three days and then easing from the weekend.

Experts say the term ‘king tide’ is used to describe the highest seasonal tides that occur each year in connection to the moon alignment.

They say sometimes impact is minimal, but other times a king tide may cause coastal erosion, flooding of low-lying areas, and disruption to normal daily routines.