After the storm – a retrospective

Two weeks since the arrival of Storm Ingrid and the community is still reeling from shock: there is a palpable sense of grief, both for the damage to the coastline and to the homes of the people who live there, and for the loss of the iconic road that runs the length of the Line. We’ve had storms before, but this one feels different. Suddenly the idea that we’re living on the front-line of climate breakdown – impossible to imagine when you’re strolling along the seafront in Torcross on a beautiful summer’s day – seems very real and tangible. However things pan out from on, there are clearly going to be some very hard choices to be made in the coming weeks, months, and even years.

How did we get here? Everyone has their own pet theories as to the cause, and favourite remedies as to the solution. The science, however, is fairly clear, and over the next few weeks and months we will be publishing a selection of writings to help our readers – who, as residents of Stokenham parish, have a right to know what’s going on – understand the background to the situation the community finds itself in. Our aim is to give our readership the best available knowledge-base to make their own informed decisions about the various options that will be open to us, and the pros and cons of each approach. Only that way can we hope to reach conclusions that are sensible, evidence-based, sustainable, and to the long-term benefit of the community.