0:00:05 > 0:00:07The barrage of storms that have battered
0:00:07 > 0:00:11the south-west in recent months have caused a trail of coastal
0:00:11 > 0:00:15destruction unlike anything the region has seen in living memory.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27They caused millions of pounds worth of damage to
0:00:27 > 0:00:29our roads and railways...
0:00:33 > 0:00:35..to our homes and businesses...
0:00:41 > 0:00:43..and to our coastal defences.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50In this programme, we assess the worst-hit areas
0:00:50 > 0:00:53and we meet the people still reeling as they try to
0:00:53 > 0:00:57rebuild their homes, their lives and their livelihoods.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Complete and utter devastation. Just looked like a war zone, to be honest.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04The waves were starting to hit the rocks
0:01:04 > 0:01:06and then hit the side of my train.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09Bam! Bam! It's terrifying.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Then you could see the white water through the railway lines,
0:01:12 > 0:01:16and then each wave was taking away the tarmac. So it's...yes.
0:01:16 > 0:01:17We've really got to go.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26We meet the experts who say wild weather
0:01:26 > 0:01:28is something we might have to get used to.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32All the indications are that if you look back,
0:01:32 > 0:01:34this is a once-in-a-lifetime event.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39But if you look forward, they're going to become more frequent.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56And we ask the big question - for those living on the edge,
0:01:56 > 0:01:59is it time to rebuild or retreat?
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Amid all the drama of the winter storms,
0:02:17 > 0:02:21one sight above all beggared belief -
0:02:21 > 0:02:24the south-west of England's main rail line destroyed.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28On February 4, mountainous seas,
0:02:28 > 0:02:33driven by an unusual south-easterly wind, ripped it apart,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38leaving the line and a question hanging - could it ever be rebuilt?
0:02:51 > 0:02:56Two months and £35 million worth of repairs later,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00you'd be hard-pressed to know that anything much had happened here.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06But happen it certainly did,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10and the ferocious weather that smashed through the sea wall
0:03:10 > 0:03:12and the track that runs on top of it
0:03:12 > 0:03:15has left its mark on people's lives, too.
0:03:18 > 0:03:23Right in the path of the storm was Daryl Fensom's morning train.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24Took the train at 8:30.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26Regular commute, apart from the fact it was a bit windy.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31Then as we were approaching the train station here,
0:03:31 > 0:03:37maybe 200-300 metres behind, noticed that the waves were starting
0:03:37 > 0:03:40to hit the rocks, go over the rocks and then hit the side of my train.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Bam! Bam! It's terrifying.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Daryl found himself trapped in what felt like a giant carwash
0:03:50 > 0:03:53on the section of line that, 12 hours later, collapsed.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57And were you scared?
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Yes, definitely scared.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02In my mind, I'm running through what would happen
0:04:02 > 0:04:05if the train started to give way, if the train had fallen aside.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08- What would I do?- You're working out a plan?- Yeah, yeah, definitely.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11- Your own evacuation plan? - Yeah, yeah.- What was it?
0:04:11 > 0:04:13Pick up stuff, run towards the door
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and hold onto the pole near the door itself.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19Luckily, it didn't come to that.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21The train reversed away from Dawlish
0:04:21 > 0:04:24and to the safety of a station further up the line.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31But for the residents that live trackside, there was no easy escape.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35As soon as the wall went, the stones are getting chucked up
0:04:35 > 0:04:38from the ballast from the railway line.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42And obviously, that's never happened before.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Shane Manning was at home with his family as the storm gathered force.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Then you could see the white water through the railway line,
0:04:49 > 0:04:54and then each wave was taking away the tarmac, gripping it each time.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57And that was inching towards the house. So it's...yes.
0:04:57 > 0:05:02- We've really got to go. - Shane got out in the nick of time.
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Shortly after, his drive and part of his garage were washed away.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15- Wow.- You can see the cavity there.- Yeah.
0:05:15 > 0:05:22- So is a load of your stuff down in that pit?- Yeah. Buried now.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25- So is this pretty much as you left it, Shane?- Yes.
0:05:26 > 0:05:27How it was.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Shane still doesn't know whether his house can be repaired
0:05:31 > 0:05:34or whether it needs to be completely rebuilt.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37- Do you want to still live here? - Oh, yeah. Oh, it's gorgeous.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Last few days, the sun's been out and I've really thought,
0:05:40 > 0:05:43oh, I'm going to miss it in the summer. It is lovely down here.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46- But will you feel safe here? - Oh, yeah. Oh, totally.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49- It could happen again!- Well...
0:05:49 > 0:05:53The weather could happen again but the amount of concrete and blocks
0:05:53 > 0:05:56that they've put in in front, this house ain't going anywhere.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02Amazingly, no-one was harmed in Dawlish that night.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06Daryl Fensom couldn't believe his lucky escape.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10A day later, I found out that the piece of land that my train
0:06:10 > 0:06:13had actually stopped on didn't exist any more.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15That really puts it into perspective.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17I mean, if that had happened the day before,
0:06:17 > 0:06:19goodness knows what could have happened to me.
0:06:24 > 0:06:27The line reopened just in time for Easter.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30We've had the orange army. Let's hear it for them.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35But despite the success of the repair job here,
0:06:35 > 0:06:40there remain big questions about the long-term future of this line
0:06:40 > 0:06:44and big questions, too, for all who live and work on the coast.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50At the Met Office in Exeter,
0:06:50 > 0:06:55they've been analysing why the storms did so much damage.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57So Helen, just describe what we're seeing here.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59- This was the 4th, wasn't it?- Yes.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03This is the satellite sequence of 4 and 5 February,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05so the storm that came along and did all the damage
0:07:05 > 0:07:07to the Dawlish railway line.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09The thing that was interesting about it
0:07:09 > 0:07:12and caused the most damage is the fact that it had been
0:07:12 > 0:07:15out over the Atlantic for a little while
0:07:15 > 0:07:18and it generated great big swells that were coming towards the UK,
0:07:18 > 0:07:24and those high swells, high seas, coincided with the high tides.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26And then, as the low came in,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29because of the way the winds blow round the low pressure,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32you had a south-easterly wind blowing all of that sea
0:07:32 > 0:07:35and strong wave action onshore onto Dawlish,
0:07:35 > 0:07:36and that's why it caused the problem.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39So it had been gathering force in the Atlantic,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41but what caused it to form in the first place?
0:07:41 > 0:07:44Well, it was formed because of the contrast between the really,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46really cold air that we had over the States -
0:07:46 > 0:07:48they had record-breaking low temperatures
0:07:48 > 0:07:51and I think they had record-breaking snowfalls in places -
0:07:51 > 0:07:54and that cold air went a very, very long way south, so it was
0:07:54 > 0:07:58very close to the warm, tropical, moist air over the Caribbean.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03And it's that contrast between very cold air and warm air that generates
0:08:03 > 0:08:06our storms and our depressions that we get in this country.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09But it also generates a very strong jetstream
0:08:09 > 0:08:12that drove those storms towards us.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14We measured that there were about 12 intense storms
0:08:14 > 0:08:17that came through in that three-month period.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24This three-mile stretch of soft sand at Perranporth
0:08:24 > 0:08:29is one of the most popular resorts on the region's north coast.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32And while the south coast bore the brunt of the winter storms,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35the North didn't get off lightly.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41As the sea surged in at Perranporth,
0:08:41 > 0:08:46it started to wash away that coveted sand, the sand that,
0:08:46 > 0:08:49quite literally, underpins this beachside business.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56The Watering Hole boasts of being the UK's only bar on the beach.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01Now, building directly onto sand might seem like an unwise choice,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05but it's stood firm for the past 33 years.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10That was until the February storms left it teetering on the edge.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Bob Job runs The Watering Hole with his son, Tom.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23They were in the middle of major renovations when the storm hit.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26The first storm came big-time. We're used to those.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30And it literally ripped, probably, 15 feet away from here,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32for the front 15 feet. That was a solid 15-foot drop,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35so you're talking thousands of tonnes of sand that moved.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38And we thought, that's it. We've survived that one. No problems.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40And we had two or three days of it. It was pretty bad.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44And then, three-and-a-half weeks later, it came again.
0:09:45 > 0:09:46Bigger winds.
0:09:48 > 0:09:49Bigger storm.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54In all the years I've been here, I've never seen the sea like it,
0:09:54 > 0:09:59in my travels abroad, surfing around the world. This is 40,
0:09:59 > 0:10:0250 foot plus and stuff coming in on a beach in England.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04Totally unheard-of, I'd have thought, and hopefully,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06it'll be unheard-of ever again.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10The sand that was lost from the beach in February
0:10:10 > 0:10:12still hasn't returned.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15In the meantime, Bob's shoring up his cafe
0:10:15 > 0:10:17and even growing his business.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19I mean, you're not just staying put.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23- You are expanding here. You're investing.- We're investing.
0:10:23 > 0:10:24We've got to move forward, as my son said,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27so that's what we're doing, yeah.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29But if there are going to be more and more of these kind of
0:10:29 > 0:10:33extreme weather events, this isn't the place to be running a business.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36It makes it harder but someone's got to look after the place.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40- You're just completely committed to it?- Totally. Yeah.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45While Bob's got the problem of not enough sand,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49over in south-east Cornwall, they've now got too much of it.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58The February storms left Nicky Berry's beach cafe buried
0:10:58 > 0:11:00under tonnes of the stuff.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05I can't believe, Nicky, you're having to dig this all up by hand.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Um... We've had pretty much no other choice.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10We seem to have been digging forever.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13We've cleared I don't know how many hundreds of thousands
0:11:13 > 0:11:15of tonnes of sand.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19The job involves painstakingly picking out remnants of
0:11:19 > 0:11:22her shattered business, like dangerous shards of glass.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25It's tiny little bits like this that are just going to
0:11:25 > 0:11:27- go straight into a child's foot, aren't they?- Absolutely. Yeah.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34Nicky's cafe now sits below the level of the sand in front.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36It used to be several metres above it.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43That's because as the waves surged across this beach
0:11:43 > 0:11:47time and time again, they dramatically reshaped it.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58This stream has moved.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02It used to run in a channel right in front of Nicky's cafe,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05acting as a kind of protective moat.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Without it, there's nothing between her business and a high tide.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14- So this could all be futile! - It could.- I hate to say it.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16- Yeah, absolutely. - My goodness!- It could.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18So in the meantime, you're just getting on with it?
0:12:18 > 0:12:21- That's all we can do.- Right.- That's all we can do.- OK, come on, then.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24- Keep digging.- Only a few hundred tonnes left.- That's right.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27One spade at a time.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29Inside, things are slowly taking shape.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36But Nicky will never forget what the sea did to her business.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46Complete and utter devastation. It was nothing like that before.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49It just looked like a war zone, to be honest.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53The cafe itself was probably a foot, two foot of water and sand.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58And the sea had just washed straight through the cafe.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01And actually, the big heavy ice cream freezer, full of ice cream,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05was actually floating in the middle of the actual cafe.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Unbelievable. I mean, I've never seen anything like it.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11The only thing I can liken it to was, you know,
0:13:11 > 0:13:13watching footage of sort of a tsunami.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22- It's just been freak weather. - But what if it's not freak?
0:13:22 > 0:13:25- What if this is the way it's going to be now?- Well, let's hope not!
0:13:25 > 0:13:27- Well, that's it, really. Is it just hope?- Yeah.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30There's nothing we can do, is there? There's nothing we can do.
0:13:30 > 0:13:31So fingers crossed for now.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37But work going on just along the coast might one day offer
0:13:37 > 0:13:39more than hope.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42This is Loe Bar near Porthleven
0:13:42 > 0:13:46and these are Plymouth University's storm chasers.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50Claire Earlie and Paul Russell are studying the impact of wild weather
0:13:50 > 0:13:54on our coastline to help planners work out what to do about it.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- Hello.- Hello.- Hi, Paul. Hello. Hi, Claire.- Hi.- Hi, Claire.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01So tell me what you're doing here.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04Well, as you know, the south-west was hit by some of the biggest
0:14:04 > 0:14:07storm waves in living memory this winter.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09And what we're doing here is we're measuring those waves,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12but we're also measuring the impact on the coast.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14And we're doing that in three specific ways.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17We're measuring the beach erosion and accretion or build-up,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21we're measuring the erosion of the cliff face, and we're also
0:14:21 > 0:14:25measuring, excitingly, the mechanism by which the cliff erodes.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27We've got a seismometer in the cliff that measures
0:14:27 > 0:14:30the shaking of the cliff by the storm waves.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32And Claire, what does this gadget do?
0:14:32 > 0:14:35This is a laser scanner and this maps the surface of the cliff
0:14:35 > 0:14:38and we come back monthly, and then we can
0:14:38 > 0:14:41compare the consecutive scans and see how the cliff has changed over time.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43And what has happened in the last few months?
0:14:43 > 0:14:48Typically, we see about 2-3 centimetres of recession in a month,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51and then, after the big storms that we've had,
0:14:51 > 0:14:53we saw 2-3 metres of erosion.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56- That's 100 times...- Yes. - ..that amount.
0:14:56 > 0:14:58- That's a lot of stuff, isn't it? - Yeah.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02In fact, the cliffs here suffered the biggest
0:15:02 > 0:15:05battering of any in the south-west,
0:15:05 > 0:15:07so we're using a gadget of our own...
0:15:09 > 0:15:13..an airborne camera to give us an idea of what hit them.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15Now, from their research,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Paul and Claire have discovered that the waves that pummelled
0:15:18 > 0:15:22the shore here were an average of eight metres high.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24Now, that might not sound very much,
0:15:24 > 0:15:29but imagine that you are at the top of one of those waves as it swells
0:15:29 > 0:15:34up to its full height and you get a sense of how fearsome they were.
0:15:34 > 0:15:40We're talking waves as high as the roof of a two-storey house.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45And they hit the Cornish coast here head-on, over and over again.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Claire filmed the onslaught.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57It was pretty exciting, pretty terrifying as well.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01We captured the high tide and the biggest waves of that storm...
0:16:04 > 0:16:07..at the same time as the seismometer being in the ground,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10capturing that movement as well.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13The readings from the seismometer showed that the cliffs were
0:16:13 > 0:16:17swaying by 5-8 millimetres every time a wave hit.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23And it was that shaking that weakened them to breaking point.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27But were these extraordinary conditions a one-off?
0:16:27 > 0:16:30All the indications are that if you look back,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32this is a once-in-a-lifetime event.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35But if you look forward, they're going to become more frequent,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38these extreme storms. So I think it's something we have got to
0:16:38 > 0:16:42prepare for in the south-west and we've got to learn to live with.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46Whatever the future holds, weather-wise, at
0:16:46 > 0:16:51South Milton Sands in South Devon, there's now little left to lose.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58When the Valentine's Day storm rolled in on 14 February,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00lovers of this beach
0:17:00 > 0:17:04could only watch as great chunks of it disappeared.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06It was just quite unbelievable, just really almost couldn't take
0:17:06 > 0:17:11it in, the force of the sea, and also, how high it felt.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14It physically felt like a big sort of boiling mass.
0:17:14 > 0:17:20It was really high up. It was really sad as well cos so much...
0:17:20 > 0:17:22You know, this beach is just such a fantastic site
0:17:22 > 0:17:24and it was sad to see so much destruction.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31The waves swept away two-thirds of the sand dunes
0:17:31 > 0:17:33which once stood here.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36They'd been restored by the National Trust landowners
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and local people just ten years earlier.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44Those wooden posts mark where the front of the dunes
0:17:44 > 0:17:50was before the storms. That is where the front of the dunes stands today.
0:17:51 > 0:17:52It's all gone.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57As one of the biggest coastal landowners in the country,
0:17:57 > 0:18:00the National Trust faces tough decisions about where to rebuild
0:18:00 > 0:18:03and where to let nature have its way.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08Tony Flux is the trust's coast and marine adviser
0:18:08 > 0:18:11and has been working with local people to find a solution.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13- Hello, Rosie.- Hiya. How are you? Are you all right?- I'm not too bad.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15- Nice to see you again. - Yeah, you too.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18So I expect you're quite pleased we're actually trying to
0:18:18 > 0:18:20- put it right for the season. - Really relieved.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22Yeah, definitely cos it will help our business all the time,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25just to have our second route coming in.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27All our coastal sites are different
0:18:27 > 0:18:29and they're all special in some way or other.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31I think you've only got to look around you
0:18:31 > 0:18:34and see what a beautiful location this is. And it's very popular.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37It's very popular. And it's very precious to people.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40These sort of iconic sites mean a great deal to them,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42so it's not just in our interests.
0:18:42 > 0:18:43It's in the public
0:18:43 > 0:18:48and national interest to look after these sites as best we possibly can.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50But one has to accept that they are dynamic.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55It's the coast and change is not only inevitable, but sometimes,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58as we've seen this winter, it can occur very, very quickly.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05The trust tries to plan for its properties 100 years ahead.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10Not an easy task when it comes to an ever-changing coastline.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12All our coastal adaptation strategies,
0:19:12 > 0:19:13all our coastal planning,
0:19:13 > 0:19:17if you like, is working on the principle that we're going to
0:19:17 > 0:19:20be dealing with an extra one metre of still water
0:19:20 > 0:19:24over the next hundred years. Forget storms.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28Just an extra metre of still water - where would high water mark be?
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Well, it wouldn't be here. It would be there.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33And on shallow beaches,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36that's a real issue over the next hundred years.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41The damaged coast road here is being rebuilt,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44but not everywhere will get the same treatment.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48There are places where the decision to repair
0:19:48 > 0:19:51and renew is much more difficult to take.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Mullion Harbour, for example, in Cornwall,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57is a case in point where the damage has been very significant.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02What you don't want to do is have a situation where you're doing work,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04you're spending money, you're using resource and you're
0:20:04 > 0:20:09doing it year after year after year after year for no long-term gain.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16The issue of what to protect
0:20:16 > 0:20:21and what to abandon has long loomed over the Dorset town of Lyme Regis.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28Landslips like these in the 1960s plague the town.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35This stretch of coastline is constantly on the move and for
0:20:35 > 0:20:40some local people, the threat of losing everything is very real.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Derek Hallet is one of those living on a landslide.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Ten years ago, half his garden fell into the sea.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Today, it's all but gone entirely,
0:21:05 > 0:21:08leaving his home just metres from the edge.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12We had a wonderful garden. We had a lovely lawn.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14Steps going down.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Apples trees. Some beautiful Bramleys.
0:21:17 > 0:21:23And now, you can see it's now quite a... Well, quite a mess.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25Just below his garden,
0:21:25 > 0:21:29a multi-million-pound sea defence scheme is under way.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32And it's come just in time.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35On 4th February, the storm hit hard.
0:21:36 > 0:21:40I must be honest, if we hadn't had the new defences nearly finished,
0:21:40 > 0:21:45I don't know if we'd be here. The place was rocking.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47For two nights, it actually rocked.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51My famous saying is I go to bed with my life jacket on,
0:21:51 > 0:21:54but we actually blew them up those nights!
0:21:54 > 0:21:55Cheers, my friend.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Derek's more than happy to put up with the noise
0:21:58 > 0:22:02and disruption of the sea defence works.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06I think we're extremely lucky. I think we've been spoilt.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Lyme Regis have had a lot of money spent on it lately
0:22:09 > 0:22:11and I think we're very, very lucky.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Derek's house is on East Cliff,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21but he has a farm on the other side of town, at West Cliff,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23and here, it's a different story.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29These cliff top fields were once level pasture.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32But storm force seas have undermined them
0:22:32 > 0:22:36and heavy rainfall has loosened the land.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40They're slumping into the sea and are unusable.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46It's completely all gone.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49The bad weather, the gales and the torrential rain,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52as you can see, it's just gone.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55I'd say it's about 40 acres in total.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58God knows how many acres we've actually lost.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03There's a lot down on the beach. It's gone on underneath this.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06It's sad.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12There are no sea defences here and none planned.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15Basically all comes down to money
0:23:15 > 0:23:19and with all the flooding up in the Somerset Levels
0:23:19 > 0:23:23and the East Coast, you know, everybody got to have their piece
0:23:23 > 0:23:28of cake and there's only one cake and we can't have it all here, can we?
0:23:28 > 0:23:32So, hopefully, they'll do something down below, but who knows?
0:23:34 > 0:23:37But could a case be made for protecting
0:23:37 > 0:23:40the west side of Lyme Regis too?
0:23:40 > 0:23:42I'm taking a trip with local geologist
0:23:42 > 0:23:44Richard Edmond to find out.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57'This is the best way to see what's going on here.'
0:23:59 > 0:24:01Richard, the scale of this is extraordinary.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03- The story's there, isn't it? - That's right.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06This is East Cliff, so the east side of Lyme Regis,
0:24:06 > 0:24:08and it's built on an ancient landslide,
0:24:08 > 0:24:10which goes all the way up to the slope at the back there
0:24:10 > 0:24:13and the concern is that as the sea nibbles away the base of
0:24:13 > 0:24:16the cliff and we get these very extreme rainfall events,
0:24:16 > 0:24:21those landslides could be reactivated and take away up to 160 houses,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24the main road, the church, the churchyard, the football field,
0:24:24 > 0:24:28so there's a huge amount of property and value at risk
0:24:28 > 0:24:32and that's what allows the funding to come in place to do a scheme here.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35In terms of the design of that wall, there,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38- it's already been put to the test, hasn't it?- It has.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42It hasn't even been finished and yet, it's survived those big seas.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Now, we're heading over to West Cliff,
0:24:46 > 0:24:50where Derek's fields are working their way down onto the beach.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57There are fewer houses here, so it's harder to justify shoring it all up.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00This is the coast performing naturally.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03There's no justification to spend millions of pounds
0:25:03 > 0:25:07of public funding on a field, or even on a single house.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10And just economically and sustainably, it would
0:25:10 > 0:25:13- be completely the wrong approach. - As a geologist, do you think
0:25:13 > 0:25:15this is actually a realistic way to deal with things -
0:25:15 > 0:25:17throw money at the problem over there,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21- let nature take its course here? - Absolutely, it is.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24And all I would say is it's going to get harder and harder in the future.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Eventually, Black Ven, on the east side of Lyme Regis,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30is going to want to work its way towards the town.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34And it's very hard to imagine what kind of sums of money
0:25:34 > 0:25:37you'd need to even try to stop it.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41So, poor Derek's field up there is disappearing into the sea
0:25:41 > 0:25:42at quite a rate.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47It is. It's a real irony. This coast is so beautiful because it's eroding.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48- It's a product of erosion.- Yeah.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51- If it wasn't eroding, it wouldn't be the place that it is.- Yeah.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54And obviously, people want to live and enjoy
0:25:54 > 0:25:57and be in these places, but it comes with an inherent risk.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Climate experts say the evidence suggests,
0:26:01 > 0:26:06be it by the coast or inland, we'd better brace ourselves.
0:26:06 > 0:26:11We're at a crossroads of ocean weather and continental weather and
0:26:11 > 0:26:15polar weather and tropical weather and we're a very small island.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17The rainfall is getting more intense.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19There is evidence for that in the records.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22We can see that and we can analyse that.
0:26:22 > 0:26:23So at the very least,
0:26:23 > 0:26:26we should start to prepare for more extremes of weather.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Not everyone sees a changing landscape as a bad thing.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43People often say, "Oh, we're losing the coast."
0:26:43 > 0:26:45No, you can't lose the coast.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Or, "You're sacrificing the coast." No, you can't sacrifice the coast.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52What's happening is the coast is just in a slightly different place.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55And that's not only natural, it's what makes it so beautiful
0:26:55 > 0:26:57and so dynamic and so interesting.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02Others believe our efforts to hold back the tide will prove futile.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06How do you move a town like Lyme Regis back? You can't.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10It's where it is and that's a problem that's going to face
0:27:10 > 0:27:12communities all around the world.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15But in the long-term, nature will win.
0:27:24 > 0:27:30Many of those who choose a life by the sea seem determined to stay put.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36No-one can say they haven't been warned.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Everyone knows that life on the coast is dynamic,
0:28:07 > 0:28:12and yes, it can be dangerous, but that's all part of its seduction.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14It might prove to be a fatal attraction,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17but for some, it's worth the risk.