From Kent to Cumbria, the UK’s coastal towns and their communities are at risk of being engulfed by the waves by 2050.
A shocking map below reveals the seaside towns and parts of London that could be reclaimed by the sea due to rising tides and coastal erosion over the next 25 years.
According to projections by Climate Central, the areas which could be affected include Dungeness in Kent, Burnham in Devon, Southport in Merseyside and much of Lincolnshire.
British sea levels have risen by 15cm since 1900 and the Met Office predicts the sea could rise by more than a metre by 2100.
The Environment Agency’s National Coastal Erosion Risk Mapping project revealed in 2019 that Kessingland in Suffolk, Hornsea and Withernsea in Yorkshire and Camber in East Sussex are likely to suffer the most coastal erosion over the next 20 years.
Sunderland, Filey in North Yorkshire, Pevensey Bay in East Sussex and Shoreham-By-Sea and Bognor Regis in West Sussex also made the top 10 list.
Sir James Bevan, chief executive of the Environment Agency, said a conversation had to be started on the issue: “Lot least because we owe it to the threatened communities themselves to help them decide what they want their long-term future to be”.
But he said that it was “far too early to say which communities will have to move” and that “no one should be forced from their homes against their will”.
Gwynedd Council in Wales has said that the village of Fairbourne will be “decommissioned”, moving residents out of the area and only keeping sea defences going until 2050.
Homes in Happisburgh, Norfolk, were once 20ft from the sea but are now on a cliff edge. The village has lost 35 homes to erosion over the past two decades.
Experts have warned that sea levels could increase as much as 3m if the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica collapses.
In the UK, a 2m rise within the next 20 years would see large parts of Kent almost completely submerged, while cities and towns around the Humber estuary, such as Hull, Scunthorpe and Grimsby would also experience intense flooding.
