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Coastal Heritage at Walton-on-the-Naze - Ultimate Power of the Sea
Coastal Heritage - Walton-on-the-Naze - East Coast of England - Essex
Ultimate Power of the Sea
The Walton Backwaters Experience - Worst Case Scenario...
URGENT FLOOD WARNING!! --- STOP --- NORTH WALTON CUT OFF BY STORM SURGE --- STOP --- STONE POINT AWASH --- STOP --- HORSEY ISLAND SUBMERGED --- STOP --- KIRBY LE SOKEN OVERWHELMED --- STOP --- 1000's ACRES FARMLAND DESTROYED BY SALT CONTAMINATION --- MESSAGE ENDS
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The Naze peninsula is awash... the north part of the town of Walton becomes an island... Hamford water becomes a raging sea... Complete farms are lost... Horsey Island has sunk without trace...
      Impossible? No, not really. All it takes is a certain combination of tide and weather conditions and the risk becomes high...
      Ok, so why now? Why has flooding suddenly become such a big issue in the twenty first century? The answer is both geological and climatic.
      First, there is the legacy of the last Ice Age. The south-eastern part of the UK is gradually settling lower into the sea while the north-west is rising. This 'tilting' phenomenon is the result of the landmass slowly springing back after the disappearance of the ice sheet as it retreated northwards to the polar cap. The rate at which the south of England is sinking is 30cm. per century.
      Secondly, there is a climatic change – possibly aggravated by our self-inflicted 'green house effect' – as we move away from the cooling effects of the last Ice Age. It is estimated that over the next seventy-five years average temperatures will rise between 2 and 4 degrees and even up to five degrees in the southeast, where summer temperatures could reach forty-two degrees. Winters will become wetter and summers drier. More that half the snow in Scotland will disappear as the polar caps melt causing the sea level to rise from just a few centimetres in northern Britain to, possibly, 86cm. in the south and east. The London Basin conurbation has its own extra problems because it is gradually sinking into its soft clay bed.
      In some parts of Britain the sea could rise by up to a metre in our grandchildren's - or even children's - lifetimes. The threat to the low-lying areas around the south and east coast is known as 'storm surge'. Apart from swelling the tidal parts of rivers, thus inundating flood plains, a storm surge can cause devastation on the vulnerable parts of the coastline as was experienced in the floods of 1953 when the surge raised sea levels up to almost two metres above their predicted tidal levels.
      The particular meteorological conditions needed to produce a storm surge are associated with a trough of low pressure moving across the Atlantic. If this weather system passes north of Scotland and then veers south into the North Sea it can become a danger. The low pressure means that the sea rises in a 'hump' of water, accentuated as the ocean water reaches the continental shelf. The height of the surge can be further increased by strong northerly winds associated with the depression, which push the sea into the bottleneck of the Straits of Dover and up the Thames Estuary. If this coincides with a high 'spring' tide – these occur twice a month – there could be a real danger of flooding along most of the tidal Thames Estuary.
      This is what happened in 1953 when 307 people were killed, 24,000 homes were inundated and 30,000 people evacuated. A train on a line in Norfolk collided with a bungalow reportedly “travelling on the crest of a wave”. In the Netherlands, where 1,800 people were drowned, 9% of Dutch farmland was flooded. Since then, sea defences have been strengthened at a cost of billions. The Thames Barrier alone, which is designed to protect the capital from extreme tides, cost nearly £400 million, and that was completed back in 1986. The cost today would be nearer a billion.
      The frequency of a 1.5 metre storm surge in the North Sea is once every 120 years – at the moment. Three quarters of the way through this century, with the sea level rising, that frequency could become once every seven years. Some flood defences may be potentially inadequate and will require vast sums to be spent on protecting residential development in the coming years. In coastal areas - in places considered uneconomic to defend - land will be allowed to become salt marsh.
       
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So, what of Walton-on-the-Naze? What are the chances here? We do have a natural barrier in the form of the Naze that protects the Walton Backwaters and associated settlements. The problem is that the low lying land at its northern tip is eroding fast as a local northerly 'longshore drift' carries away what is left of the protective beach. The local flood risk map is an unnerving sight!
      This means that our overriding consideration has surely got to be the strengthening of sea defences for the prevention of a possible catastrophe. Piecemeal construction of new short lengths of hugely expensive concrete revetments to protect specific structures might actually cause greater problems of erosion further along the coast! Instead we have to focus on the 'bigger picture' - and that means concentrating our efforts on what we know can work, has worked -  the long line of old, neglected Victorian beach groynes; and on rebuilding the Tamarisk Wall in particular.
      Surely, this is where our priorities should lie - in the revival of these once effective but now decaying structures, for years our first line of defence against the onslaught of the mighty sea that have now sadly been left to rot away through bureaucratic inaction and administrative complacency!
      The Naze peninsula is disappearing - and with it will go the unique maritime heritage of the north Essex coastline. The government does nothing!  
      Local environmental pressure group, the Naze Protection Society, has now embarked on the only option left open to it - the conservation of a small piece of this crumbling heritage, encapsulated in the evocative CRAG WALK project. This initiative, although woefully inadequate to prevent large scale environmental destruction, will at least preserve a priceless part of the Naze cliffs for posterity!
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click on map for flood information ^
click for EDP news story ^
RED ALERT
The East coast of England is in imminent danger of huge land losses unless the government changes its policy of 'managed retreat'. The UK is one of the richest economies on earth, yet we seem unwilling to protect our own coastline! Environmental pressure group, the Naze Protection Society, is campaigning to address the plight of the Naze. At least half a million pounds is still needed to make a difference! Present funds stand at £180,000 with further bids for grant funding in the pipeline. You can support this work by visiting the  Charity Trust  shop at 18 Walton High Street. Donations of all kinds are accepted - including cash!
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Related Pages:
Naze Notes:
  
 Backwaters - from the Sea
 
The Naze Protection Society
  
new! NAZE TIMELOG  new!
Heritage Features at Risk
    
NPS Cliff Heritage Project
   
Walton Backwaters Experience

The Naze
Walton & the Naze
The Naze Protection Society
reset:
 01/04/05

 

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