Experts warn of more landslides as drought sees cliffs crumble
MORE landslides and cliff collapses could occur after a countrywide drought that has led to cracks appearing in headlands.
This week a 66ft section of cliffs at Barton-on-sea in Hampshire fell into the sea and experts are warning more could follow when wet weather hits. The threat to the nation’s clifftops also extends to large parts of the east coast from Yorkshire to East Anglia.
Catherine Eastick, New Forest district council’s coastal management team analyst, said there were fears that more of the cliffs at Barton-on-sea could fall and the council has partly closed the beach. “Movement on the coastline in this area is not unusual but the amount that fell on Tuesday evening is significant in its size – 20 metres long and tons of debris,” she said. “One of the contributing reasons is the unusually dry weather which means the cracks at the clifftop have worsened.”
The UK experienced its driest winter for 20 years and the wettest inhabited place in England – Seathwaite in Cumbria – remains “bone dry”.
Prof Rob Duck, a coastal erosion expert at the University of Dundee, said: “After periods of really dry weather you get cracks forming in the cliffs and then if heavy rain comes it suddenly increases the weight at the top and you get landslides. It could happen in other areas such as East Yorkshire and East Anglia which have similar geological conditions and are particularly vulnerable.”
Environment Agency figures show England received just 34 per cent of its normal rainfall last month, making April the 10th driest on record.