Costa da Coastal

December 7, 2023 9:30 AM

The village of Hemsby has been on the East coast of England since Hemer the Viking started farming there over 1,000 years ago. Two weeks ago, a rather modest storm, which didn't even merit a name, carried away the road [BBC] which services a number of houses which used to be (safe) behind the dunes. Context below the fold.

In September the Guardian ran a sad story of one pre-emptive eviction & demolition. Drone footage before 24/11 storm [2½m], clearly showing the road along the cliff edge. Local people ask Why are we not worth saving? [80s]. 5½ years ago, several houses fell off the edge but you can see houses [BBC] on both sides of the road. Government taken to court [Guardian] to protect its citizens and their property rights. Earnest documentary by Faultline [22m] on realpolitik, Brandon Lewis MP, utilitarian decisions, value of tourism to the economy, Netherlands %GDP comparison, "they're not real homes because they are built on sand" etc. Meanwhile 180km NW a WWII pillbox slumps off cliff in Yorkshire [3m drone footage].

Grady of Practical Engineering explains coastal erosion. [8m] . . . and how to chop his sponsor's onions [2m]. MetaPrev on Australian solutions. Nearer to me: Lal and Willy Pierce from Co Wexford, Ireland reflect on the steady diminution [RTE] of their family farm.

posted by BobTheScientist (4 comments total)

I'm not sure what plausible alternative there is a to a managed retreat in some places. The North Sea has been washing away villages on the east coast for centuries. And the more you build up defences in one part of the coast, the more gets washed away elsewhere.
posted by plonkee at 10:10 AM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

There is the famous Dunwich, not quite gone, and the less-well-known but completely sunken Ravenser Odd as two examples of the sea vs civil engineering in the UK….
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:59 AM on December 7, 2023

Two other examples of English villages washed away by the sea - in both cases as a consequence of attempts to alter the natural flow of the estuaries on which they stood - are Hallsands (Devon) and Hampton-on-Sea (Kent).
posted by Cardinal Fang at 1:07 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]

North shore of Lake Erie, too. There were some lovely houses on Lakeshore Line near Port Burwell, Ontario that were teetering on the edge. Standing on the sand-cliffs was always accompanied by the constant hiss of erosion, sometimes a big thump as a boulder fell out and bounded into the lake. The wind turbines we put up in 2006 look very close to the edge now.
posted by scruss at 3:45 PM on December 7, 2023