Family flee in terror as home plunges off crumbling clifftop
A FAMILY say they have lost everything as a cliff collapse sent their dream home crashing on to the seashore.
Emma Tullett, 42, fled before the £195,000 bungalow and the family car plunged off the cliff.
She shared the two-bedroom bungalow and swimming pool with her partner and four of her five children aged six, seven, 15 and 17.
All that remains of the home she bought in 2018 is the living room, a bedroom and kitchen.
Twenty neighbouring homes in Eastchurch, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, were evacuated after emergency crews said there was “significant risk” of further collapse.
Emma noticed front garden bricks separating when she came home from work on Friday.
Shortly after 9pm she heard a crunching sound and her living room blinds collapsed, prompting the family to flee.
They were evacuated to a community centre and are now in temporary accommodation in Sittingbourne.
Co-op assistant manager Emma said: “I was watching TV with a glass of wine and then the blinds fell off the wall. Everything happened really quickly.
“I heard this crackling and crunching and then you could tell the cliffs were gone.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking, we’ve lost everything. This was my dream home which I paid for in cash.
“We were told we’d have about 40 years living here but we’ve not even had two.”
Emma called the
Environment
Agency after spotting the gaping chasm and firefighters evacuated the 20 homes.
Three more houses are also said to be at risk of falling into the sea.
Firefighters using a drone and coastguard teams scoured the collapsed rubble and soil to ensure nobody was trapped underneath.
Eastchurch is one of numerous East coast erosion danger spots.
Parish councillor Malcolm Newell, 70, owns two houses that were evacuated, including his own. His parish authority had been battling to get the cliffs made a Site of Scientific Interest to protect them from erosion.
The retired wood turner said: “This should have been dealt with a long time ago.
“It’s not right to have people’s home, their livelihoods, falling into the sea.
“We want compensation from someone for all of this. We have lost everything. A Swale Borough Council spokesman said: “We met with local representatives and the Environment Agency to discuss erosion along this stretch of the Island.
“The new council administration have expressed their opposition to the current shoreline management plan approach where there is no active intervention to defend this area and this position is due to be formalised when we are able to hold a full council meeting.
“In the intervening period we have continued to engage with the Environment Agency to see what measures can be taken.”