{"id":1767,"date":"2013-12-12T16:42:21","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T16:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeremyshiers.com\/blog\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2013-12-12T16:42:21","modified_gmt":"2013-12-12T16:42:21","slug":"coastal-erosion-at-naze-and-seawick-after-tidal-surge-dec-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jeremyshiers.com\/blog\/coastal-erosion-at-naze-and-seawick-after-tidal-surge-dec-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Coastal Erosion At Naze And Seawick After Tidal Surge Dec 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

The north east\u00a0 of Naze and Seawick are two places in Tendring suffering from bad coastal erosion which was worsened by the Dec 2013 tidal surge.<\/p>\n

The Naze<\/h2>\n

In January 2013 the view from cliff at north of naze was<\/p>\n

\"nazeFenceJan2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And by 6 December was<\/p>\n

\"cliffNorthEastNazeDec2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A closeup highlights the line of the fence has changed (presumably before the surge unless someone got up very early)<\/p>\n

\"fenceNazeCliffDec2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the January picture there are 10 up right posts counting from left, by December only 5.\u00a0 Another chunk of cliff has bit the dust.<\/p>\n

The view from the beach in January was<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"nazeCliffJan2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In October 2013 (note the pipe sticking out of cliff and touching beach)<\/p>\n

\"northEastNazeOct2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

6 December looks like this<\/p>\n

\"beachNorthEastNazeDec2013\"<\/a>The pipe is now nearly horizontal<\/p>\n

It seems someone is piling rubble at the base of the cliff, presumably in an attempt to slow or halt the erosion.<\/p>\n

In my view this will not work, what would work is building groynes so a bank of dry sand builds up between the cliffs and the sea, preventing the sea from reaching the cliffs.<\/p>\n

In addition it would be necessary to sculpt the cliffs as has been done by Sunny Point, and in Frinton.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I took photographs in October plenty of other people were out and amazingly some were actually pulling bits out of the cliff.\u00a0 Perhaps they felt it was not eroding fast enough so they lent a hand.<\/p>\n

\"peopleErodingNazeCliffOct2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Seawick<\/h2>\n

This picture of Alan Underwood’s shop at Seawick with the reef in front of it was taken in August 2012.<\/p>\n

\"alanUnderwoodsShopAugust2012\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I went back to Seawick in October 2013 and wondered<\/p>\n

Where is Alan’s shop?<\/p>\n

\"whereIsAlansShopOcto2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Although the shop had gone the sand platform on which it had stood was clearly still there.<\/p>\n

But by 6 December it had been washed away, presumably by the surge earlier that day.<\/p>\n

\"noShopSeawickDec2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The spring tide also meant an unusually low low tide and I was able to walk the sea side of the reef which is clearly covered in weed indicating it is covered by the sea some of the time.\u00a0 This means the reef will not work to stop the sea moving the sand from the beach, in contrast to the very next groyne less than 100 yards to the north.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"reefSeawickDec2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The groyne to south has weed on the lower part, and none on the high part – indicating this is not covered by the sea.<\/p>\n

You might have thought Environment Agency or whoever built the reef and groynes would realise this and do something about it, considering EA is responsible for sea defence.<\/p>\n

\"rockGroyneSeawickDec2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This picture taken in October 2013 shows how the sea had eroded the path (almost a road) which ran the sea side of the sea wall.<\/p>\n

\"seawickErosionOct2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On December 6 it looked like this.<\/p>\n

\"seawickPathErodedCoveredShingleDec2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The sea has clearly reached the sea wall, spreading shingle everywhere and washing away what was left of the path at this point.<\/p>\n

Behind the sea wall at this point are houses and caravans.\u00a0 These will be flooded when the sea breaks through the sea wall which it certainly will do if nothing is done to stop it.<\/p>\n

\"housesAndCaravansBehindSeawallDec2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The bizarre and annoying thing is that what needs to be done is not a mystery, in fact it has been done successfully within a few hundred yards by EA.<\/p>\n

BUILD GROYNES.<\/p>\n

In August 2012 the view of beach and groyne looking north was<\/p>\n

\"seawickLookingNorthAug2012\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There were are few rocks on the beach, which was mainly shingle.<\/p>\n

By December 2013 someone, presumably EA, had placed a load more rocks on the beach.<\/p>\n

\"seawickRocksOnBeachDec2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I don’t know why they bothered.\u00a0 This will not work, the sea can get behind the rocks and wash the sand away.<\/p>\n

Go to Holland-on-Sea by Flags Cafe and see the rocks which were placed against the sea wall.\u00a0 The sea just washed the sand from underneath the rocks and they dropped lower down the sea wall.<\/p>\n

The sea can even erode under a sea wall especially if there is a promenade, as there is at Holland-on-Sea.\u00a0 We know this because a digger fell through in 2011<\/p>\n

\"diggerFallingInHoleSeaWall\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Just few hundred yards to north the scene is very different\u00a0 – looking south<\/p>\n

\"whereIsAlansShopDec2013\"<\/p>\n

looking north<\/p>\n

\"seawickLookingNorth\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Why the difference?<\/p>\n

In my opinion it is because the groynes are<\/p>\n