The Hawke's Bay Regional Council will be "reviewing the future management" of Westshore's artificial gravel bund which has been breached at least twice in the storm this week.
The sea surged through at high tide late on Thursday morning and again late last night, both times flooding lower lying areas of the Westshore beach reserve.
Council general manager asset management Chris Dolley confirmed swells had damaged the bund, which he said is a "soft engineering measure to protect the land behind against erosion and is expected to undergo some damage during swell events like what we've seen recently."
In the last day swells of up to 6 metres had been forecast, and wells had been recorded 3 metres at the Napier Port buoy on at high tide on Thursday night.
The swells had come from the east, hitting areas normally sheltered from the more common southerly swells, he said.
