RESIDENTS of a once-popular seaside village have said that it is becoming a ghost town as their beach could be closed for years.
The RNLI was forced to close large stretches of the coastline in Hemsby, Norfolk, after it lost 10 feet of land to erosion in just two days.
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Two bungalows are now at risk and RNLI lifeboats cannot launch after a nine-foot high sheer drop was created on the shore.
Daniel Hurd, coxswain of Hemsby Lifeboat, called the situation “horrendous”.
He said: “We knew we were going to get some washed away this year but now the beach is going to have to stay shut permanently.
“Unless the authorities get the ball rolling, we’re probably looking at another 20 years before the beach opens.”
Erosion has affected the village for years, but this is the worst single case for some time.
It has got so bad that concrete debris from Second World War defences have resurfaced in the sand.
Daniel added: “We’ve all got families, we’re all volunteers, none of us get paid, but every time something happens down here it seems to be the lifeboat crew at the head of it.
“We get no-one down here to check or give us some sort of support.”
Chris Batten, the crew’s secretary, agreed, saying that the problem was caused by multiple high tides and strong winds amid ongoing climate change.
He also confirmed that the family in one of the at-risk properties has been evacuated, while the other has staid in their home.
Parish council chairman Keith Kyriacou has urged the Government to step in.
He said: “The beach is in a terrible state. It is in a bad way.
“We’re just so desperate for the Government to help us out here.
“We’re losing our beach and our beach is our main income in the summer with the tourists and holidaymakers – 85% of our income is from tourists and we just want the Government to help us, but we don’t seem to be getting anywhere fast.
“We are fighting a losing battle at the moment.”
Meanwhile, Ian Brenna, who chairs the Hemsby Coastline charity, has claimed that more than 90 homes in the area are in danger of falling into the sea within the next 25 years.
He added that homeowners did not know that their properties were at risk when they moved in and are now “very nervous”.
One resident, Lance Martin, 65, even had to use a tractor to drag his home inland and let his kitchen fall into the sea in 2017, only for his house to now be in peril again.
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