Latest news with #erosion
BBC News
3 hours ago
- Climate
- BBC News
Damaged beach huts to be removed by New Forest District Council
A council has begun work to remove 43 cliffside beach huts that have been damaged or are at risk due to erosion and cliff Forest District Council (NFDC) has closed the site of the huts at the eastern section at Hordle Cliff, Milford on Sea, during the removal work is expected to take up to three weeks and will see contractors use land-based machinery to bring some of the huts up to Paddy's Gap for relocation or local authority said it has terminated some beach hut licences, when relocation was not possible. It added that under the licence conditions, the removal of a beach hut from the site is the responsibility of the council said the operation has been funded by beach hut income and contributions from the beach hut owners. Councillor Geoffrey Blunden, portfolio holder for environment and sustainability with NFDC, said: "We have every sympathy with those who have experienced impacts at this very challenging coastal area and have actively engaged with hut owners and the New Forest Beach Hut Owners Association."Beach erosion and cliff movement caused by winter storms has damaged some beach huts and caused others at the eastern end of Hordle Cliff to be at greater risk from future storms."We advise anyone considering buying a beach hut or other asset on, or close to, the coast to consider the risk before purchasing. "People are welcome to contact our coastal team to understand the risks." You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
The Sun
18 hours ago
- General
- The Sun
One of UK's most tranquil seaside spots at risk of losing golden sands after huge blowhole emerges
A HARBOUR in a popular seaside town is facing a major issue after a huge blowhole has formed. The South Devon beach has seen the effects of erosion caused by decades of battering waves. 3 3 Now Hope Cove harbour is doing everything it can to save their breakwater afte a blowhole formed in the middle. Built 98 years ago by fisherman, the harbour wall was last repaired in 1983. Since then, there have been no funds available to refurbish it any further. Shocking discovery During construction, fishermen would work with the tide, building a section with each tide change. Between these periods, debris, rocks, and stones would be thrown in the middle and left there while the next section was built. Over the years, cracks have appeared and high water can be seen blowing the debris through the sea wall. Sean Hassall is the joint harbour master on Hope Cove Harbour and explained that the force of the waves has given the breakwater a significant battering. 'We had the breakwater X-rayed a few years ago and to our horror, there's loads of voids between our breakwater,' said Sean. This has caused a blowhole to form in the middle of the wall, which Sean says will be detrimental to the harbour and surrounding area in time. 'The kids think the blowhole is great, but it's only a matter of time before the breakwater goes," he explained. "If it goes we lose all the sand off the beach." Hope Cove relies massively on this golden sand beach for tourism, meaning the town will suffer a financial blow. Further problems On top of that as, cliffs and a mains sewage pipe also sit close by, and could potentially be affected. 'It will erode the cliff where the pathways go over to Inner Hope and Outer Hope, and along that path, there is a mains South West Water sewage pipe so that will obviously impact on the sewage system and South West Water,' the expert said. The harbour masters have considered various options for recovery of the breakwater, ranging from £1 million to £5 million. 'We're going for the just over £1 million option, it's an easier option for us,' explained Sean. And due to the carcinogenic nature of concrete, the harbour are unable to use it. Instead, they plan to bring in big boulders to reinforce the wall and repair what is already there. And since the harbour is completely independent and not funded by the South Hams District Council, all the money will have to be raised by the harbour and Friends of Hope Cove, a charity designed to protect the cove. "We have the Friends of Hope Cove Harbour, which are a brilliant group, they're the driving force to try and raise the money to rebuild our harbour wall,' said Sean. The harbour is planning a public meeting on Wednesday, August 6 to discuss their plans and when they will go ahead. 'There's lots of indications that there might be money there, but we first need to know how much it's going to cost, when we're going to do it, who's going to do it," said Sean. "Once we know that detail, we can then go out to the wider public and say look, we need the money who's going to help us'. 'Its getting the word out to people, a lot of people are very passionate about our village, it is a special place'. The Sun has reached out to the local council for comment. More on seaside towns The best and worst seaside towns in the UK have been officially named. Plus, a popular seaside town ranked among the country's best where you can spot dolphins swimming from the shore. Another seaside town is located just 90 minutes outside of London, and you can even find Banksy art there. And a Welsh seaside town that visitors say looks like it was plucked from the Italian coastline. Plus, the up-and-coming seaside town that hosts a viral Kate Bush event. 3
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
The popular tourist town about to be wiped from Australian maps as unstoppable force slowly destroys it
A coastal town popular with tourists for its spectacular beaches and fishing is at risk of being wiped off the map by severe erosion. Residents of Lancelin, about 125km north of Perth, have spent years pleading for emergency intervention after their town was identified as one of 55 erosion hotspots in Western Australia in 2019. But their desperation reached a new high after poor weather conditions exacerbated the issue with 10metres of land lost to the sea since May. As the sand continues to fall away, thousands of locals and business owners are facing the loss of their homes and livelihoods. Lancelin Sands Hotel owner of three years Glen Trebilcock was warned his pub, overlooking the beach, would come roughly half a metre closer to the sea each year. However, the recent uptick in erosion has seen his business come dangerously close to the shoreline - years ahead of schedule. 'Without immediate intervention, the safety of the foreshore and the integrity of essential coastal infrastructure remain at serious risk,' Mr Trebilcock told 7News on Saturday. 'We strongly believe that a retreat is not a viable solution.' A petition for the state government to provide emergency funding and specialist technical assistance has received 800 signatures. Gingin Shire President Linda Balcombe wrote to WA Deputy Premier Rita Saffioti on behalf of her 6,000 ratepayers, but hasn't heard anything back. 'We're not asking for millions of dollars at the moment, we're just asking for a little bit of financial assistance,' Ms Balcombe said. Including the massive loss of land in the last few months, Lancelin has lost more than 25metres of coastline to erosion in the last year. The loss includes the community-built lookout which has been ruled a safety risk. It's set to be torn down next week after being a source of town pride for several decades. The crisis is already affecting the town's tourist market. 'Six tour companies that used to come through every day, they've all disappeared. They bypass and they just go directly up to Jurien (Bay),' Mr Trebilcock said. Former WA opposition leader Shane Love has repeatedly called for government intervention. 'North Lancelin erosion demands urgent action,' he said last week. 'I raised a grievance in Parliament on May 22, and followed up again in Budget Estimates a fortnight ago - and still no action from the Minister. 'I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the State Government must step up with emergency funding and a rapid response.' The WA Government told 7News it is 'aware of the issues and is actively looking at options to assist'.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Woman says city has ignored broken retaining wall washing away yard
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — An Oklahoma City woman says the backyard she's called home for more than half a century is being washed away by a creek, and despite years of phone calls to the city, nobody has done anything to fix the problem. Linda McCurley has lived in her southeast Oklahoma City home for 51 years. 'I've been here a long time,' McCurley said. 'I love this place. I love this neighborhood.' But now, she says, that backyard sanctuary is becoming unrecognizable. Historic 'Springer Home' demolished in Kingfisher 'It's heartbreaking to see this,' she said. 'I can't even walk out here for fear of falling because there's holes everywhere.' She says she first noticed the ground sinking about 20 years ago. 'Just started eroding into the creek,' McCurley said. Concrete retaining walls meant to keep the creek behind her house in place began collapsing. 'We haven't got concrete in 20 years,' she said. McCurley says the creek and the retaining walls belong to the city, and that she's been calling them for help for at least a decade. 'I've been calling them for ten years,' she said. 'A lady came out, looked at it. She said it was terrible. It was the city's position to fix it. They would get somebody right out. And then the second time, I can't remember his name, came out, and this was already caving in. And he said the same thing. He said, 'It's pretty bad,' which I knew that, and 'we'll get somebody out here.'' But she says nobody ever followed through. 'Every time it rained, it'd get a little further and a little further and a little further,' McCurley said. 'Then the fence started caving in. It stood for a while.' She says she's rebuilt that fence twice, and now, her backyard shed is next. 'That whole yard's gonna be back there. My trees, my building here that has my lawn equipment in it—everything will be in this creek,' she said. 'I'm not rich. I live on a fixed income. I draw Social Security. That should tell the story.' 'You should not have to go this far to get something done,' she said. 'I've paid taxes for years, and I expect things to happen after all this time. I'm going to die soon. I'd like to know that this got fixed.' News 4 reached out to the City of Oklahoma City. A spokesperson said they're going to look into the issue and get back with News 4. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
The Independent
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Louisiana scraps $3 billion coastal restoration funded by oil spill settlement
Louisiana on Thursday scrapped a $3 billion project to repair its disappearing Gulf coastline, an initiative funded by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement. Conservationists called it an urgent response to c limate change, though Governor Jeff Landry viewed it as a threat to the state's way of life. Despite years of studies and reviews, the project, central to Louisiana's coastal protection plans, grew increasingly imperilled after Mr Landry, a Republican, assumed office last year. Its abrupt collapse means the state risks forfeiting more than $618 million already utilised for construction and losing more than $1.5 billion in unspent funds. The Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group, a mix of federal agencies overseeing the settlement funds, stated that "unused project funds will be available for future Deepwater Horizon restoration activities" but would require review and approval. A plan to rebuild disappearing land The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project aimed to rebuild upward of 20 square miles (32 kilometers) of land over a 50-year period in southeast Louisiana to combat sea level rise and erosion on the Gulf Coast. When construction stalled last year because of lawsuits, trustees warned that the state would have to return the hundreds of millions of dollars it had already spent if the project did not move forward. Former Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves, a Republican who once led the state's coastal restoration agency, said that killing the project was 'a boneheaded decision' not rooted in science. 'It is going to result in one of the largest setbacks for our coast and the protection of our communities in decades,' Graves said. 'I don't know what chiropractor or palm reader they got advice from on this, but — baffling that someone thought this was a good idea.' Project supporters stressed that it would have provided a data-driven, large-scale solution to mitigate the worst effects of an eroding coastline in a state where a football field of land is lost every 100 minutes and more than 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) of land have vanished over the past century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The project, which broke ground in 2023, would have diverted sediment-laden water from the Mississippi River to restore wetlands disappearing because of a range of factors including climate-change-induced sea level rise and a vast river levee system that choked off natural land regeneration from sediment deposits. 'The science has not changed, nor has the need for urgent action,' said Kim Reyher, executive director of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. 'What has changed is the political landscape.' The Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group last year had noted that 'no other single restoration project has been planned and studied as extensively over the past decades.' A perceived threat to Louisiana culture While the project had largely received bipartisan support and was championed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, his successor has been a vocal opponent. Landry recoiled at the rising price tag and amplified concerns that the massive influx of freshwater would devastate local fisheries. Landry has said the project would 'break' Louisiana's culture of shrimp and oyster harvesting and compared it to government efforts a century ago to punish schoolchildren for speaking Cajun French. 'We fought this battle a long time, but Gov. Landry is the reason we won this battle,' said Mitch Jurisich, who chairs the Louisiana Oyster Task Force and sued the state over the project's environmental impacts, including likely killing thousands of bottlenose dolphins due to the onslaught of freshwater. Landry said in a statement that the project is 'no longer financially or practically viable,' noting that the cost has doubled since 2016. 'This level of spending is unsustainable,' Landry said. The project also 'threatens Louisiana's seafood industry, our coastal culture, and the livelihoods of our fishermen — people who have sustained our state for generations.' The project's budget had included more than $400 million for mitigating the costs to local communities, including to help the oyster industry build new oyster beds. Project proponents said that the rapid loss of coast meant communities would be displaced anyway if the state failed to take action to protect them. 'You either move oysters or move people, and there's only one answer to that question,' Graves said. State seeks a smaller, cheaper solution Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, the lead agency overseeing the project, said in a statement that the project was 'no longer viable at this time based on a totality of the circumstances' including costs, litigation and a federal permit suspended earlier this year after the state halted work on the project. Chairman Gordon 'Gordy' Dove said that 'our commitment to coastal restoration has not wavered' and that the state plans to pursue a smaller-scale diversion nearby. Dove told lawmakers earlier this year that the state could save at least $1 billion with a different plan to channel river water into the Gulf Coast at a rate 5 to 30 times less than the Mid-Barataria project's 75,000 cubic feet per second. Conservation groups bristled at the change in plans. The Mid-Barataria project's termination marked 'a complete abandonment of science-driven decision-making and public transparency,' Restore the Mississippi River Delta, a coalition of environmental groups, said in a statement, adding that the state was 'throwing away' money intended to protect its coastal residents and economy. The coalition said alternative measures proposed by the state, such as the smaller-scale diversion or rebuilding land by dredging, were insufficient to meaningfully combat land loss and did not undergo the same level of scientific vetting as the Mid-Barataria project. 'A stopgap project with no data is not a solution,' the coalition said. 'We need diversion designs backed by science — not politics.'
