December 30th 2023.
Camilla Fellas Arnold has grown up around the seaside chalet that has been in her family for generations. Located in the Norfolk coastline, the home was bought by her great granddad in 1945 and was located close to the beach.
However, over the past decade, the sea has been inching closer and closer to the property, causing major damage to the family home. Camilla’s mother and elderly grandfather now live in the house, but their future is in danger due to the increased risk of storms and coastal erosion.
‘You see houses hanging off the cliff edge, people’s lives littered everywhere; all of their stuff,’ Camilla, 34, says. ‘When you see people’s homes hanging over the beach, you think, is that going to be us at some point? It’s so upsetting, it’s almost indescribable.’
The Fellas’ neighbors have not been so lucky. 70-year-old Kevin Jordan was told to leave his home just one week after a storm, and with no compensation. He had been told that the house would have 100 years before it fell into the sea, but the reality is that storms are becoming increasingly frequent.
‘It was heartbreaking,’ Kevin says. ‘I put everything into it; spent a lot of money doing it up. I got nothing back at all. No compensation when the local authority deems it necessary to demolish your place. This is climate change. How else would you explain it? These things used to be considered 100-year storms. Now they are coming increasingly fast.’
Villages and hamlets around England – including Hemsby – have been identified as being at risk of coastal erosion, and many people have had to leave their homes without warning. Although Kevin is now living in a one-bed flat, he says he is grateful for all the people who helped him move his possessions.
‘I’m not an emotional person, but that caught me in the throat,’ Kevin says of leaving his home. ‘What’s happened to me will happen to others. It’s not just us coastal regions; it’s the flood plains. People need to wake up.’
The story of Camilla and Kevin’s families is not unique; all over the country, Brits are facing challenges never seen before. The devastating effects of climate change are clear, and it is time for us to act.
Camilla Fellas Arnold's family have been closely connected to the Norfolk coastline for generations. Camilla's great granddad bought the seaside chalet in Hemsby in 1945, when the sea was further away. But now, the family home is at risk due to coastal erosion and the increasing frequency of what used to be considered '100-year storms'.
Camilla, 34, recalls playing in the dunes as a child, and her mother Jeanette, and grandfather Eric, splashing in the waves off the coastline. However, twenty homes in Hemsby have been destroyed in the past decade due to storm surges and crumbling cliffs, and Camilla worries that her family's home will be next.
Her neighbour, 70-year-old Kevin Jordan, was recently told to leave his home in just one week before it was demolished. Kevin had been told when he bought the property 14 years ago that it would be safe from the sea for the next hundred years. But increasing storm activity has changed these predictions.
'It's climate change,' he says. 'These things used to be considered 100-year storms. Now they are coming increasingly fast.'
Kevin had spent a lot of money renovating the chalet, and had been hoping to retire there to watch the ships bobbing along the horizon before falling asleep to the sound of the waves. But now he is temporarily housed in a one-bed flat in nearby Martham, and has to come to terms with the fact that his home is gone.
The area around Hemsby has been identified as being at risk of coastal erosion, and locals had applied to the government for funding for sea defences. But they were told that they were not eligible for the funding and were left to face the storms without the protection.
The people of Hemsby have experienced first-hand how devastating climate change can be. And as Kevin says, 'People need to wake up.' Many other towns and villages around England are at risk of coastal erosion, and Brits are facing challenges never seen before. It is clear that urgent action needs to be taken to tackle the effects of climate change.
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