Thirty people had to be evacuated from their homes in Dawlish, according to Councillor John Clatworthy.
Speaking to PA he said:
People had to be evacuated when the sea wall went and the track was breached.
There were about 30 people who had to leave their homes. To be
honest, I have been here for 44 years and we haven't had storm damage
like we have now.
The railway was built in around the 1850s and there had been two
breaches before now, around 150 years ago. The storm last night was
unbelievable.
It is not just Dawlish that is affected, this
railway line is to Plymouth, the naval bases, Cornwall - it is a
lifeline.Something needs to be done and it is not just a five minute
job.
Steven Morris has been talking to evacuees in Dawlish:
Flood defence balks protecting the Cornish fishing town of
Porthleven have been smashed, according to my colleague Matt Hall whose
parents live there.
He writes:
The
balks are used to close the inner harbour entrance when there's a
storm. They have been in place for the last week, preventing any fishing
boats from going out. But they have been smashed by the storm, meaning
that the boats inside the harbour are unprotected, and at least half
dozen have sunk. These baulks have apparently been in use since the
harbour was built in 1858.
There are also two cannons that
guard the harbour entrance. One has been displaced by the storm and is
reported to about to fall into the harbour.
Fishermen
and the emergency services are battling to remove boats from
Porthleven’s inner harbour this morning in a bid to save them from
sinking.
The power of the waves has already seen the balks (large pieces of wood) fail between the inner and outer harbour.
It means that the waves are now rolling through the normally protected inner harbour – and the boats sheltering in there.
Six or seven boats have already been sunk as a result and now a rescue bid is on to save others from the clutches on the sea.
One
of the port’s historic cannons, close to the Ship Inn, is also
teetering perilously close to the edge of the harbour, having been
dragged there by the gale force winds.
Local councillor Andrew Wallis tweets the scene.
A man and woman walk along the seafront as
waves break over the harbour wall at Porthcawl in Wales. Photograph:
Matthew Horwood/Getty ImagesDebris sits in a swollen river in Dawlish,
where high tides and strong winds have created havoc disrupting road and
rail networks and causing damage to property. Photograph: Ben
Birchall/PAA huge waves break over the railway in Dawlish. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
Here's a summary of the latest developments:
• Winds of
more than 90mph, heavy rain and high tides prompted the Environment
Agency to issue nine severe flood warnings in the south west of England. More homes have been evacuated in the flood-stricken Somerset Levels.
• The Met Office has issued amber "be prepared" warnings for much of southern England because of the high winds and heavy rain. Wind speeds of more than 90mph were recorded overnight in the Scilly isles and parts of Devon saw more than 30mm of rain. • A 30m stretch of the seawall in Dawlish has been swept away leaving the main south-west rail line dangling over the sea. Rail services west of Exeter are likely to face weeks of disruption. MPs have called for the line to be rerouted.
• David
Cameron is to chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee for the
first time this year to discuss ways of tackling the floods and the
aftermath of the latest storm. So far this year the meeting have been chaired by the under-fire environment secretary Owen Paterson.
• High winds overnight left 44,000 people in the south-west without power. By morning Western Power Distribution said all but 5,000 homes had now been reconnected.
• Elsewhere,
flood warning sirens were sounded again in Chiswell on the Dorset coast
and another chunk of the Brighton's West Pier was swept away. The local MP in Newbury said flooding was approaching 2007 levels.
The Guardian's Steven Morris has made it to a makeshift evacuation centre in Dawlish.
The council is offering sandbags.
Updated
The Met Office has updated its warnings for high winds and heavy rain.
Alison Seabeck, the Labour MP for Plymouth, is calling on the
transport secretary to hold an urgent meeting with all MPs of
constituencies cut off by the rail closure.
Teignbridge council, which covers Dawlish, says 30m of seawall has been washed away in the town.
A view of some of the damage on the sea wall
railway in Dawlish, causing damage, where high tides and strong winds
have created havoc in the Devonshire town disrupting road and rail
networks and damaging property. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw, a former environment minister in the last
Labour government, has called for the main railway line to Cornwall to
be rerouted away from the coast.
Speaking to BBC news he said
the government needed to increase spending on infrastructure to meet
the challenge of the impact of climate change. He said he supporter
calls to move the coast line in land.
In the short term Bradshaw
said: "The government really needs to get a grip on the need to improve
our existing transport. We in the south west have now been cut off two
years in a row. It has a devastating impact on our economy."
He
said if the rail line could not be repaired quickly it would cause far
more economic damage than the current tube strike in London.
"In
the long run if we want to maintain a proper railway service down to
Plymouth, down to Cornwall, to keep those economies going, we are going
to have to look at rerouting that line away from the sea at Dawlish,
because these events are becoming more and more regular."
Updated
Devon and Cornwall police says it is dealing with a "large amount of
calls relating to road debris, damage to property and flooding,"
including damage to the track and railway station at Dawlish.
In a statement it said:
Police
would ask anyone planning to travel to Dawlish in order to look at the
scene to refrain and allow responders to do everything possible to help
local residents. People are also asked to stay away from coastal areas
where waves may well cause damage to vehicles. In Plymouth The Hoe is
experiencing large waves and damage to some properties. We are currently
working with the local authority to make the area as safe as possible.
Cornwall saw damage and debris overnight and remains in recovery this
morning. There remains a host of minor road closures throughout the
region due to road debris and fallen trees. Motorists are warned to
expect the unexpected on rural roads and drive according to road
conditions. Flood water should also be avoided and speeds should be
lowered on the region’s main road network.
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