- Title: Normandy's cliffs erode close to urban areas amid drier summers, higher waters
- Date: 9th March 2023
- Summary: CRIEL-SUR-MER, FRANCE (MARCH 2, 2023) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE SHOT OF CLIFF WITH TOP PART ERODING, NEAR HOUSE AND LOT FECAMP, FRANCE (MARCH 2, 2023) (REUTERS) DRONE SHOT OF CLIFF WITH PART ERODING NEAR ROAD (MUTE) DRONE SHOT OF CLIFF AND SEA (MUTE) VARIOUS OF CLIFF
- Embargoed: 23rd March 2023 11:24
- Keywords: Cliff Climate change Erosion Fecamp France Normandy coastline
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, FRANCE
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Environment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA002568408032023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:One night in late February, Annick Quevremont was watching television with her husband in the living room of their cliffside home in Normandy, when suddenly, they heard a loud boom and felt a tremor beneath their feet.
The next morning, they opened their window blinds in shock – a portion of the Cap Fagnet cliff near their house had crashed into the sea.
A segment of the cliff, 40 metres wide and 15 metres into inland, vanished in that episode of erosion in the northern French town of Fecamp on Feb. 22. No one was hurt in the incident, but the landslide brought down with it a shrine with a cross, a local landmark.
“There was a rock bench where people sat down in the afternoon, and all that fell off, a big granite rock, the shrine, everything was gone. Everything was gone,†Quevremont told Reuters, after showing a photo of the cliff taken decades before part of it eroded.
For residents of the area, the phenomenon was a symbol of the acceleration of cliffside erosion. According to France’s Cerema centre for environmental planning, the Fecamp landslide equated to 100 years-worth of erosion on a normal pace, but taking place all in one day.
Fecamp Mayor David Roussel said landslides on the coast around the area happen regularly. In 2022 alone, he added, authorities observed 60 incidents.
What is new though, Roussel said, is how dangerously close the eroding parts are to residential areas.
“That’s especially what we have to consider, to see how to think of urbanisation with regard to these residential areas amid the receding coastline, which is spreading in our region,†Roussel said.
Deputy mayor Pierre Aubry cited aberrant climate events as the cause of the February landslide in Fecamp.
“We had very dry and hot summers with few rain, then came a period of heavy rain, then a few weeks ago, we had temperature of -5 or -10 degrees Celsius, meaning a frost period that tends to make water contract and cause even more fissures on rocks,†Aubry said.
He also said the rising seawater levels contribute to the receding coastline, another major cause of the degrading cliffs.
The issue of coastal erosion is not unique to Normandy. France's coastal protection agency Conservatoire du Littoral estimates that some 50,000 residences around France are in zones that will require them to be moved by the end of the century.
In early February, an apartment building on the Atlantic coasts of Soulac-sur-Mer, in southwestern France, was demolished as the town suffered some of the fastest coastal erosion in France with beaches disappearing at a rate of about 2.5 metres per year in past decades.
Back in Fecamp, authorities have established a 100-metre security perimeter around the eroded cliff and barred access to some areas and roads deemed too close. Officials held a meeting on Wednesday (March 8) to discuss the situation.
“These are natural phenomena that we cannot control,†Le Havre Deputy Prefect Gilles Queneherve said. “We take the receding coastline very seriously, because we observe that with the changing climate, we see events happening earlier than expected.â€
(Production: Pascal Rossignol, Ardee Napolitano) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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