• Residents of The Marrams in Hemsby have abandoned their wooden homes due to high tides.
• The Highways Agency has cordoned off the street and BT has fixed a telegraph pole.
• The events of this past week are the result of harsh weather and high tides.

When high tides carved into sandy cliffs in Norfolk, work has begun to destroy three dwellings that were close to the brink in Hemsby.

In The Marrams in Hemsby, residents have abandoned their wooden homes, some of which are just 3.2 feet (1 meter) from the edge and in danger of collapsing.

At about 21:00 GMT on Friday, high tide caused a number of outbuildings to disappear into the water.

Sue, whose property is the first being knocked down, said she did not expect to lose her house “so swiftly”.

Before the demolition crews arrived, she and other homeowners hastily packed up their valuables.

Sue, who desired to remain anonymous, expressed her hope that more might have been done to save the house she had lived in for three years.

Up to 20 feet separated her property from the cliff’s edge at this time last week, but today there was only 3 feet.

She was informed that in order to move her home back from the cliff edge, she would need to obtain planning clearance, but there was not enough time.

“It’s really annoying, it’s all your hopes and dreams collapsed into nothingness,” she said.

Mary Withey, whose home is also to be demolished, said she and her partner “had got what we can”.

“I’m not OK with it, it’s been my home, I don’t want to move… it’s very sad,” said Ms. Withey, who has lived in her house for four years,

“When I first heard [it would be demolished] I was in shock and today I’ve just been tearful, it’s horrible.”

At 21:38, the next high tide is forecast.

The only access road to the Marrams’ properties has been blocked off and is predicted to collapse. On Friday, a shed and a playhouse fell down the cliff as the sea level rose.

It “put a grin on everyone’s face” when the crew of the Hemsby Independent Lifeboat saved two chickens that were still inside the shed.

It had been a “long old night,” according to the lifeboat crew’s coxswain Daniel Hurd.

On Friday night, the Highways Agency cordoned up the street, and BT came to fix a telegraph pole that was leaning to one side.

“Luckily we managed to get that on to the beach and not risk public safety by it falling on top of them,” he said.

He added that the “wind has dropped off and the sea is currently flat as a pancake” and that the crew would now “see where today takes us”.

“We can only wish for this weather and the sea state over the weekend,” he said. “If we’d had that [before] we wouldn’t have had any damage… but it’s going to happen [eventually] and we just need to get something in place to try to stop it eroding away the face of the dunes constantly.

“My concern now is that if [the erosion] gets to the car parks, we possibly may have to shut the doors on the lifeboat station and then you won’t have sea cover off Hemsby at all… and that is serious.”

The settlement, which has a population of roughly 3,000 people and is close to Great Yarmouth, originally had a Pontins summer camp.

The events of this past week are the result of harsh weather and high tides.

On Friday, firefighters knocked on doors and advised everyone who was still inside the impacted properties to leave.

As it was: dread of cliff-top dwellings collapsing

Sheila Oxtoby, the chief executive of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, stated on Friday that the council was seeking to bring some stones onto the beach as a “temporary solution” to guard the road access to a number of other properties.

On Wednesday, 19,000 tons of stone are reportedly scheduled to arrive.

Ms. Oxtoby said: “At the same time as dealing with the immediate issue, we’re also looking at how we can use our emergency powers to provide a temporary rock berm solution to give us more time for the main scheme.”

Mr. Hurd, however, said the current situation was “heart-breaking” and could have been resolved earlier.

He said: “I just think it’s absolutely ridiculous, this has been an emergency for years and it’s taken this weekend for them to see it’s an emergency to then get a rock berm put on the beach.”

Although there had been “so much paperwork,” borough council member James Bensley said he could see why people were unhappy.

“It’s a real minefield of making sure that what local government and the authorities do is the correct line of procedure and I can totally understand people’s frustrations,” he said.

“We [also] have to make sure it works, we have to make sure it’s cost affordable and doesn’t affect further south down the coast.

“I know the process and the time that has been taken is exhausting and I can fully appreciate and understand that but we have to do it correctly and with the tools that we have got and through the right channels.”

A 1.3 km (0.8 mi) rock berm at the bottom of the cliff was approved in theory last year, but the council’s £15 million finance for the project was “difficult to get” because only £2.5 million was made available by the government.

Hembsy homes have lost a few to the sea before, so this is nothing new.

In March 2018 sandy cliffs near The Marrams washed away, destroying seven bungalows, and in December 2013 “the biggest storm surge in 60 years” damaged seven residences.

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