marine erosion on everybody’s minds | EUROtoday

The customs officers’ path instantly stops, blocked by a wood slat fence topped with a firecracker yellow signal: “Access prohibited, danger! » A gap opens in the cliff, cutting through a stone wall. 20 meters away, pretty houses are lined up facing the ocean. In between, orange sensors are planted in the grass. In December 2020, the coast of Bidart (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) saw an entire section of its cornice collapse. Since then, the gray marl wall, 900 meters high, has continued to disintegrate, under the pressure of the winds and the runoff of the rains.

Below, between the beach of the Royal Pavilion and that of Erretegia, another impressive landslide left a chaos of limestone blocks and sections of masonry walls on the sand. Joël (he did not wish to give his name), a retiree from Nantes who has a second home in the town, looks at the damage, stunned: “I haven’t been back since All Saints’ Day. A few months ago, there was only sand. With recent storms, erosion has accelerated. » Damage from waves and rainfall is visible across the 6 kilometers of beachfront.

It has now been more than ten years since this opulent seaside resort on the Basque Riviera has seen wind and marine erosion accelerate. The strong storms which followed one another this winter amplified the falls and their rate. Between the waves that hit the foot of the cliffs, the rains which fall on the stone and the groundwater which resurfaces on the side, these are more and more weakened. The coastline is receding inexorably, with no way to predict where it will fall. “The water that gushes out without us knowing its path is what worries us the most”remarks Emmanuel Alzuri, numerous right-wing mayor of the city.

You have 75.1% of this text left to learn. The relaxation is reserved for subscribers.