Villagers have been effectively cut off after a massive storm destroyed the coastal road that connects them to the outside world and nobody knows where they’ll get the £18million to fix it.
The A379 into Torcross was swept into the sea after being pummelled by 12ft waves and 60mph winds when Storm Imogen hit south Devon earlier this month.
It was not the only casualty in the storm. Landlady Gail Stubbs’ pub, the Start Bay Inn, was smashed up by the deluge along with several neighbouring houses.
The road runs a precarious two-mile stretch along a narrow shingle bar between Torcross and nearby Slapton and is nicknamed ‘The Slapton Line’. Now it is destroyed, there is just one road into the village which takes drivers heading to Slapton or Dartmouth on a huge 45-minute detour.
Windows and roofs were smashed in by rogue waves crashing over the sea wall onto a row of houses along the promenade. Alleyways were left sitting full with waist-deep water.
At the same time, important sea defences were also stripped away, with experts saying the beach dropped 6.6ft during the storm, leaving the village massively exposed to further chaos from the wind and tides.
Damage is ‘still happening’ in the village, Mrs Stubbs told the Daily Mail today, explaining the lack of defences against the waves left them wide open to further destruction.
‘We’re having to close at five o’clock today, so just I can make sure no one gets hurt. If the water comes in and gets into the electrics, you might get a fire as well,’ she added.
The shingle bar had been used for rehearsals of the D-Day landings because it resembled Utah Beach in Normandy, but it looks more like a warzone now than ever.
The A379 between Torcross and Slapton in South Devon has collapsed into the sea after Storm Imogen this month
Torcross is now cut off from the rest of the world after the 200 metre section fell into the sea
Gail Stubbs’ (pictured) ancient thatched pub dates back to the 1400s but she is worried that it won’t be able to take many more storms like this after being heavily damaged in Storm Imogen
Even if someone is found to pay the £18million bill to fix the 200m gouges in the tarmac, repairs may not be finished until 2027.
The destruction at the pub itself and the ruined road connecting the village to the outside world have spelt misery for business at Mrs Stubbs’ pub.
The 47-year-old said: ‘Last time the road was closed for eight months right through the season and our turnover was down by 50 per cent.
‘So obviously, that’s a worry. We don’t know whether to plan for a season being fully open, half open, or not open at all.’
She said there have been rumours that the village will be subject to compulsory purchase orders – where properties are acquired by public authorities without the owners’ consent. This has not been confirmed.
Mrs Stubbs added: ‘I don’t know how serious that is, but it’s really frightening.’
Some 300,000 holidaymakers come to Torcross each summer. Now access to the village is much more limited, with only one road remaining, which forces a massive detour on narrow country lanes for drivers heading to Slapton or nearby Dartmouth.
Mrs Stubbs has made the drive with her partner and said she had to stop and reverse 22 times on the trip to let other cars pass.
The village and her pub are still getting hit now the defences are down and she is worried of an electrical fire with high waves soaking the place
As well as the damage to the road, several buildings including Gail Stubbs’ pub the Start Bay Inn have been heavily damaged with smashed windows and roofs
She spoke about how serious the massive depletion of sea defences and the beach at the village was for its residents. She said: ‘Since the beach has gone and the material in front of the village isn’t there anymore, we’re just getting hit a lot worse.
‘So we really need a bit of urgent help.
‘People keep asking about the road, but my personal priority is the village. It’s been there a long time, and the sea wall was there to protect it. It’s not doing its job anymore.’
Her inn dates back to the 1400s, but Mrs Stubbs fears storms like this could wipe out that 600 year history. She added: ‘The future of the village is debatable.’
The community is rallying together and has started a petition with their Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden to help raise the £18million to fix the road and repair the sea wall.
Mrs Stubbs said: ‘We really, really need as many signatures as we can to show central government that it’s not just a little community. There are an awful lot of people who care about the area.’
The Start Bay Inn defiantly remains open despite its boarded-up windows but the thatched pub has had to close early in fear of high winds. It was still busy over the half-term weekend too, as well as neighbouring cafes – admittedly due to an influx of rubbernecking ‘disaster tourists’.
But this will not last, and there are already reports of holidaymakers cancelling bookings in the wake of the news.
Gerd Masselink, professor of coastal geomorphology at the University of Plymouth, said the damage to the road, village and beach was ‘the biggest change that’s happened here in the last 10 years.’
The beach was lowered by 6.6ft in the storm, essentially amounting to over six years of damage. In the past 20 years, the beach has fallen 20ft, Masselink said.
Gerd Masselink, professor of coastal geomorphology at the University of Plymouth, said the storm damage had taken away 6.6ft of the beach – over six years worth of erosion
Without the beach, Torcross is getting battered by the sea, Mrs Stubbs said. She has had to close the pub early today and there is not even a storm on, but the waves are still lapping up to the building
Metal clanking in the waves means that Ali Willcock, owner of Torcross’s Billy Can cafe can’t sleep. He said: ‘Everything rattles all the time, it’s impossible to sleep’
Damage left behind at the Start Bay Inn following the storm
‘It is very significant but it’s part of an ongoing trend at beaches along the south coast, of gravel and sand being moved from the western end, to the eastern end,’ warned Mr Masselink.
He added: ‘We’re going to see increased flooding, we’re going to see erosion on beaches that used to be stable. We’re going to see increased erosion at beaches that are already eroding.
‘We can’t keep defending coastlines for the next 20, 30, 40 years.
‘Unless we start casting the whole coast in concrete, we have to start retreating’.
For now, however, a school bus service has been set up for children who need a lift around the collapsed road. What was once a 10-minute journey to Dartmouth now takes 45 minutes and locals are worried about access to doctors, chemists and emergency services.
Torcross is no stranger to terrible flood and storm damage. The Slapton Line has collapsed three times already in 2001, 2016 and 2018 and the government has not said it is willing to repair it yet again.
Mrs Stubbs’ inn has also seen bad storm damage, with the pool table nearly being washed out of the doors in one storm in 1979. It was this that prompted a proper sea wall being built at the village.
The £18million repair cost estimate is well over Liberal Democrat-run Devon County Council’s budget with hopes central government funding from the new £1billion Structures Fund might save the road, but nobody is confident.
Local Liberal Democrat councillor Dan Thomas highlighted the difficulties of maintaining a piece of road right by the sea and pointed out there is a nationwide shortage of funding for highways. It means road like these are often a struggle to keep maintained.
In a village hall meeting, things got heated with locals angry as county council leader Julian Brazil explained that government funding was limited.
They aired resourceful ideas like the Army building a pontoon bridge, the £18million be taken from the billions in the foreign aid budget, making it a toll road, even a kelp bank to protect the coastline.
A Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs spokesperson said: ‘We’re committed to supporting coastal communities through our record investment of £10.5bn in protecting against flooding and coastal erosion by 2036, benefitting nearly 900,000 properties.
‘In addition, having inherited flood defences in the worst condition on record, we have reprioritised more than £100m into urgent maintenance works to make sure defences are properly maintained.’
