Although Chesil Beach is a natural landform it has to be managed to some extent to keep it in its present state. Serious storm events over recent times have altered the beach and without human intervention it would not necessarily survive to act as the important coastal protection for Weymouth and Portland as well as West Bay.
Serious flooding occurred in the winter of 1978/79 when the beach was overtopped and Chiswell was flooded on two occasions and great damage was done to property. The picture below is one taken at the time but is not one of mine and I am grateful to the unknown photographer.
As a result of these events, plans were drawn up to protect Chiswell and the A354 road link to Weymouth. The sea wall and esplanade were improved, flood gates were installed that could be closed when there was a risk of flooding, a drain was put in behind the beach to collect water that overtops or flows through the beach, a gabion tower and mattress was put in place at the end of the natural beach by the Cove Inn and the road to Weymouth was raised to lessen chances of flooding. These measures were put in place from 1981 to 1995, and until the storms of early 2014 they were very effective at limiting flood problems. The gabions were experimental and lasted well despite people having bbqs on top of the gabions and setting fire to the plastic coatings on the wire! The cost of all the improvements was around £5 million at the time equivalent to around £14 million now.
The picture below is of the storm drain carrying water to Portland Harbour. Notice the spray coming over the beach is Chesil Cove during a storm in November 2009.
The picture above is the outlet to Portland Harbour. The flood gates seen below are very important to stop water over topping the sea wall and reaching Chiswell. On occasions police have been stationed by the gates to stop parents putting children over the top so they can play with the waves! It defies all comprehension when parents can put their children in such danger.
Warning of potential flooding can be obtained from wave buoys out in Lyme Bay, the meteorological situation especially associated with deep depressions and the state of the tides (spring tides on new and full moon pose the biggest hazard). Residents can be warned by sirens and social media
The storms in January and February 2014 did considerable damage to the beach and the gabion mattress and tower by the Cove Inn had to be replaced. The picture below shows the wrecked gabion mattress on February 16th 2014.
The gabion tower and mattress were so damaged it was decided to rebuild them and this was finally completed by February 2015 at a cost of around £750,000.
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