Nature's wrath of destruction along the Dawlish Sea Wall

For over a month Britain had experienced some atrocious weather conditions imaginable, flooding, high winds and tidal surges making it the worst atrocious weather on record. But on February 5th saw a revenge from nature. The Dawlish sea wall which carries the mainline from London to Cornwall and is one of the most scenic, photographed stretches of line in the UK was under attack from the onslaught of the high seas and huge tidal surges, causing considerable amount of damage but worst of all a large chunk of the sea wall collapsed and swept away by the sea, causing the two tracks to dangle in mid-air. This has left the community in total shock. I decided to get a record of the event by filming scenes of the destruction and aftermath of the coastal ruins.

A certain Isambard Kingdom Brunel who designed and built this line arguably claimed it was cheaper to have the line run by the sea rather than inland and that the sea wouldn't undermine the track. Well....I suppose he would be spinning in his grave at this!

© Ryan Skinner