High waves & no trains

Is climate change something that we should anticipate on because of future impacts? Sometimes impacts can be experienced in the very present. Whether attributable or not to human-induced climate change, or 'just an extreme weather event', the Southwest of England and the Midlands are currently experiencing the impacts of sea level rise and heavy precipitation for a relatively long period. Especially the county of Somerset has been severely hit by flooding last month. The Met Office (i.e. the weather forecast and climate research institute in the UK) has issued several weather warnings in the last month about flood risks in these areas, and expects the heavy weather to continue in the next week. 

The impacts of a high sea level can also be strikingly observed in one of our case studies, the South Devon Coast between Dawlish Warren and Teignmouth. The combination of a high tide and strong winds, pushed the waves so high that the railway tracks along the Dawlish sea wall were damaged. A news item from the BBC explains that the supporting ballast under the railway tracks has been washed away by the waves (photo below from the BBC site): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-26038912




Here a short movie on you tube from the waves at Dawlish on February 4th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR0fWDSz5DM

The railway company First Great Western, which runs the main train services along this part of the coast, issued the following statement today:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/

Tuesday 04th February 2014.

All lines blocked between Exeter St Davids and Newton Abbot - Update at 1200

Train services between Exeter St Davids and Newton Abbot continue to be suspended due to yesterday's high seas and strong winds that caused significant damage to the track along the Dawlish sea wall.  Network Rail have already started to carry out repairs but we do not expect the affected lines to reopen until Friday 07th February at the earliest. Road transport is now operating between Exeter St Davids and Newton Abbot serving all stations on half hourly shuttle service.

To assist customers with journey's, all ticket restrictions have been lifted for all First Great Western services from, to and within Devon and Cornwall until further notice.

Before travelling, please check our JourneyCheck website and Twitter feed @FGW for up to date information.

This also shows how vital this part of the train line is for connecting Cornwall and the west of Devon to London and the rest of England. The map below shows the train lines in Cornwall and in the west of Devon in the lower left corner, marked in pink color (http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Your-journey/Route-Updates/All-services-in-Devon-and-Cornwall). It shows how important the connection is between Newton Abbot and Exeter, which runs along the Dawlish sea wall.