Unbelievable Storm Footage from Dawlish 2014, Dawlish Sea Wall Collapse, Rough Seas & Bad Weather

The Great Storm of Dawlish 2014, Brunel Dawlish Sea Wall collapse 5 Years Later mini documentary covers the shocking storm in Dawlish during February 2014. We show you unseen footage and photos of the event and explain the history of the railway and why that section of the sea wall collapsed.
Credits
Network Rail www.networkrai...
Dawlish Museum bit.ly/2SoKUHN
David Force Dawlish Through the Ages bit.ly/2SctbDX
Devon Sea Safari www.devonseasa...
Footage from:
Andrew Wright Iain Mcdonald
Version Girl
Mick Taylor
Su Thomas
Pictures from:
Colin Campbell
Lesley Goodhind Stephen Hall
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[@patrickhoney2706]

I am now 84 and lived in the area during and after WW2. When my Father came home from Army service in 1945, I was 10 years old and he was employed on the GWR as a plate layer. Following the war the Admiralty raised concerns at Govt level about the possibility of storm damage to the main line at Dawlish cutting off its main fleet base at Plymouth from re supply of ammunition / fuel and Stores etc. As a consequence in 1946 and 1947 my Father and other Staff were employed, in gangs of 12 men, every weekend for 2 years in bringing the Teign Valley line - from Newton Abbot to Exeter St Thomas, via Lustleigh and Trusham up to main line standards ! With the expectation of heavy ammunition trains the existing line - mostly single track with passing loops at Stations - was deemed to not be up to those specifications ! So every under bridge and drainage culvert and embankment was strengthened to be able to cope with extra weight plus passing loops were lengthened. The Teign Valley line was closed to traffic at the time of Beeching cuts but after then it was occasionally used for the Royal Train to be stabled at night when on tours of the West Country, until the track was finally lifted. Had it been kept ready on a care and maintenance basis - as many military bases were, the West Country could have had continuous traffic during the recent period of closure. I remember my Father and his mates cycling home after a gruelling days work with pick and shovel absolutely worn out and this went on for 2 years. It is a prime example of the folly of Government short sightedness when Beeching was brought in ! PGH

[@wendyburgess5805]

The power of the sea aye, not to be underestermated

[@tuxedocat3620]

Wow pretty good memory especially for an 84 year old

[@jameskrell4392]

You like some others know the uncomfortable truths. 2014 would never had happened if the same level of maintenance form those times had been maintained.

[@2760ade]

I honestly thought , when this storm damage occurred, that there was no way they would repair it, as the cost must have been astronomical, and there would be no guarantee that it wouldn't be breached again in the future. I thought they would find a way to re-route this section away from the seafront. So pleased that they did see fit to repair it. I love Dawlish!! And especially, that railway line :) Great video, really enjoyed it!

[@ncplantdoctor]

This is an excellent documentary about the storm, the building of the railway line, and why that one stretch of wall was different and more vulnerable. Right after this happened, I was shocked that after a century of standing, the seawall could be breached, since on this side of the pond we were unaware of the storm, but when the ocean gets angry, nothing can stop it. I always enjoy the dramatic shots of water cascading across the trains (but don't tell the commuters who I am or they might harm me).

[@CoastCams247]

Thank you.

[@nealeburgess6756]

Great video. Well done. It brings back memories for me. I used to travel from Dawlish Warren to Teignmouth every day for school (!966 to 1971) along this line. I remember the waves spraying over the trains during bad storms. Sometimes the boys would open the windows for the water to enter the carriage! I also remember walking along the sea wall and beach between Dawlish and Dawlish Warren. I hope to get back there one day to make that trip again! One day they closed the line for snow, and laid on buses to get us home. The bus couldn't even get up the hill out of Teignmouth. So a few of us got off the bus and walked home. The other children were eventually taken to a communty hall for the night I believe.

[@tomstech4390]

I lived the first 21 years of my life here (and still consider it home despite moving to Exeter). The fact some many people from all over the UK can say "I went here on X date" and so on is a testament to why the line must be kept open. You'll never hear someone talk about their amazing holiday in Christow or Trusham. The time from the walls opening to that sections collapse... is appprox 2.5x longer than the formation of the united states to the walls opening, I'd say that's pretty good going. As for athe occasional electric train breaking down all they'd have to do is stick a class47 in a dawlish warren golf course siding.

[@dominicwalker1999]

Brilliant video. I was doing my Geography GCSE at the time so we looked at this quite a bit and our coursework included a trip to Dawlish to look at erosion and the sea defenses.

[@ttmallard]

Nicely done video, a reaction, to consider that planar surfaces don't dissipate wave energy, there are options used to break this up from era works, stones set out from the rest create a lot of air entrainment and reduce this somewhat, not enough yet better. N.Tesla's valvular conduit, a one-way air valve with no moving parts uses vortexes to dissipate the energy, a quite simple strategy. So, please consider testing vortex panels as a way to reduce pounding and overspray flooding, that lessens damage and risk. Having the solid precast structure in place, these would be a facing, they can jut into the water as pyramids to shred all directions and angled slightly down as a panel so less vertical spray. Hth, cheers!

[@felixthecleaner8843]

an awesome vid...hadn't seen this before but I did tune in nightly to watch the men working and the Sea Riser platform going about it's business... I like to think I was among the first to subscribe to DB Cams many years ago. The recent work raising and relining of the section from near the station to the beginning of the tunnels has also been very interesting and, as an insomniac, they have been a great help to me throughout the night! Thanks DB Cams - a truly great webcam.

[@ThehulkGreen]

I am from bridgwater Somerset, I am in love with the devon and Cornwall coast, lived in Cornwall falmouth twice, one time for 5yrs the other for 1yr, I am thinking about moving to Teignmouth or dawlish very soon, its my go to place I love the most.

[@Dstew57A]

Brilliant. Beautiful place. Thanks for making this video. I remember seeing videos/news of this back when this storm hit your area. Greetings from Seattle. We have a beach on the Puget Sound named Alki Beach. We do get some good storms also but yours are pretty spectacular and I think Dawlish is much more beautiful than Alki.

[@CoastCams247]

Thank you D Stew

[@Phantomthecat]

Great doco, well narrated. 👍

[@VHKDK]

Thanks for an enjoyable video. I always enjoyed our family trips to Teignmouth and Dawlish in the late 50s early 60s. Many an hour on the sea wall waiting for the next steam engine to thunder past and of course the famous black swans in the gardens. Sadly, it has been a long time since I have seen a steam loco but I do occasionally see some black swans flying over my house, down under, in country Victoria!

[@theovanstaden5766]

Very good and informative DB Cams. Always great watching Your videos.

[@CoastCams247]

Thanks Theo

[@stratac30]

Excellent video. Why anyone should dislike this is baffling, considering the events that took place. Future historians will be find this very useful, even more if they add in Network Rail’s time lapse video of the repairs. The ferocity of the sea is mind blowing.

[@kaugusta1]

Thank you for your work on that video. It was really interesting. Would love to come visit there one day.

[@mikeclifton7778]

An excellent piece, factual, informative and not at all sensationalist. I'd wondered about the dropped section but never researched it further. Thanks.

[@CoastCams247]

Thank you Mike.

[@samueldowling1866]

Watching this and thinking ‘they’re not social distancing 8:43 then remembering

[@robkillick7050]

I worked this site bonding the ballast throughout Marine parade and the station area.

[@vancepomerening4794]

Superb film! Thank you.

[@jbc825]

Great video, really interesting 👍

[@lasalleman]

Excellent documentary.

[@southernload5710]

18° here last week & 81° today, nuts.

[@PNEKarl]

I can't believe this was 5 years ago!

[@PNEKarl]

I love Dawlish. In 1975 I was 15 and our annual school holiday was a 5 day trip to Dawlish. I didn't even know where Dawlish was. Devon said my teacher. I remember the swans and the walk along the sea wall. Wonderful memories at just 15. Thanks for the reminder!

[@lesliegprice6652]

Great video, thank you

[@daveelliott5855]

Excellent video and fascinating to watch. I heard that the estuary wall rail that I helped erect a few years before between Starcross and the boat club got badly damaged by boats crashing into it.

[@sarahbarton2089]

Interesting and informative. Thank you.

[@72tubestock94]

I was there when the storm came I was in a cafe close to the railway

[@jasonyoung7705]

I can imagine sitting in Seabreeze, eating a full English, thinking "storm, what storm"?

[@quaaludes7898]

Fantastic video!

[@Brianrockrailfan]

great video dawlish beach cams :)

[@CoastCams247]

Thank you

[@kraigjohnstone3217]

Thanks Neil

[@imlistening1137]

If I ever realize my dream of visiting the UK, I hope I can take a ride on the steam train in your beautiful town.

[@henryvagincourt4502]

I'm listening + You would be most welcome.

[@imlistening1137]

@@henryvagincourt4502 thank you!

[@huwphotographer9389]

Thanks, very good !

[@sgthree]

I remember doing cross country runs along the sea wall when at School (only at low tide!) down to the Warren. I guess , at least now, they don't have to wait for the tide to go out to run down there!

[@draven3838]

That is an amazing repair job

[@Dan_druft]

Good little video that

[@andrewuk8363]

A good and clear well presented little documentary thanks and I live nowhere near the coast unfortunately lol

[@CoastCams247]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@AnthonyFurnival]

Great work - very interesting documentary

[@erectioncorrectiontrench6593]

Crazy weather peeps

[@johnwhitehouse9885]

Thank you Enjoyed the very video.

[@christianwolf68]

those homes along that stretch must cost a good bit

[@mattoates7636]

I took the rock drill's down from Chesterfield for CAN geotechnical. Got away with driving over hours to get there sooner and they even said nothing about the overspeed down Clevedon bank on the M5

[@amfamilycreations5312]

THANKS FOR THE “SUPERHERO” VIDEO 👍🤝🤲

[@alanpollard3812]

I live in Dawlish and during great storm the waves were crashing over Lea mount and running down main road...

[@notmanynamesleft]

The weight and force of the water hitting the wall combined with the weight of a high speed train just above is immense, you'd think it would just collapse into the sea.

[@FeedScrn]

That's cool footage of a train being battered by the sea waves....

[@mark-jonno]

Hi guys, can anybody please tell me how to get to all the VIP cameras links please.😊

[@CoastCams247]

Hi Mark. Please bookmark this link kzbin.info/aero/UUMOs1hoU1QdHuxrmNltGAYjkg

[@starguard4122]

I am very glad t see that the people of Dawlish were able to recover from this disaster

[@h7283]

We still have that WW2 fighting spirit

[@fletch61]

Love the horror film music at the start ..great video ..cheers Neil

[@CoastCams247]

I made it.

[@fletch61]

@@CoastCams247 ..sorry ..lol

[@evaluateanalysis7974]

The GWR should have made a note to themselves to bring the weak section of the wall up to standard as soon as the objector was no longer living in that house.

[@robweckert5689]

Very enjoyable.

[@robertgotschall1246]

Tracks along the coast seems like such a bad idea though. California tried to put a road along the coast and several sections of SR1 have been abandoned for decades.

[@anghinetti]

Been there since 1846 and still in regular use, though...

[@Visionery1]

I can just imagine what the street-parked cars look like after a few years. Why did they not design the wall with a slight slope towards the sea and a bulge at the top to deflect the waves down and back?

[@Beemer917]

This is a dumb question but is Lambeth walk in London or St Ives?

[@anghinetti]

Lambeth Walk is a thoroughfare in the Borough of Lambeth, London. It also is the name given to a stretch of beach in St. Ives.

[@sm3296]

Cordoned off but didn’t move the trash away! All going straight into the sea!

[@Crepello100]

I still recall the down platform being washed away, around 1972? The last time I was there (end of June 2018) it was fabulous weather & about 30C. This was one of the first places ever where there was a serious attempt to compute the mean sea level rise. I believe the calculation was 9 inches since Brunel built the railway. And that rise is exponential. There may be people alive now who will see it a foot higher in their lifetimes. Apart from all the problems of that around the world I guess there will be virtually no beaches anywhere except at low tide. Tis sad.

[@hans2406]

Is the sea level rising or is the land sinking? The result is the same, of course, wet feet, but there is a fundamental difference.

[@Crepello100]

@@hans2406 If I recall, something like 1.75 inches of it was due to the land sinking. The UK mainland is still tilting back after all the ice disappeared from Scotland at end of ice age.

[@2760ade]

@@Crepello100 Did you name yourself after the racehorse or the Deltic :)

[@Crepello100]

@@2760ade The loco (which was named after the horse) but someone else got there first hence the 100 bit. I did actually go through Dawlish behind a Deltic - think was around 1976?

[@espenBredessenJones]

that intro music I had to quickly mute before my ears began to bleedj

[@muckle8]

I still think there should have been at least 20 ft of either rock armour or interlocking concrete groins placed the entire length of the line between dawlish tunnel and dawlish warren end , the sea shouldn’t be anywhere near at high tide

[@chrisdaviesguitar]

it didn't help that the sand had never been dredged. When I first went to Dawlish, the sand was about 8ft- 10ft below the LOW wall. At high tide we used to jump off the high wall into the sea as it was so deep. Now, after years of long shore drift and I suppose neglect, the sand is almost level with the low wall so the sea reaches higher up the wall. Logic dictates, by dredging and repairing the groynes, this issue could be solved.

[@cleusamaria551]

As legendas atrapalham as imagens,além disso poucas pessoas podem traduzir o idioma

[@Dan-jg7zl]

Fighting a losing battle. Pick up you things and move away from that area. That track collapsing is a wake up call.

[@ian_b]

The Council should move the sea further away from the railway.

[@joansmith3296]

That's incredible footage of the RR tracks just hanging there with the ocean under them.

[@Canhistoryismylife]

what are people doing there at 3:26?

[@landontakeamericaback2106]

Nice

[@isbieiskandar7641]

it's not even a tsunami

[@janicesugahara2392]

Assustador.

[@smudgycat6750]

Now yhe new wall has been tested

[@scopex2749]

Well done to all the orange glowy buddies and all concerned!!

[@gerhardwiechmann8153]

O goot

[@MEANASSJAMSTER]

who's the music by? -

[@CoastCams247]

I made the music at the end.

[@MEANASSJAMSTER]

@@CoastCams247 so, if Daw desk, Then (perhaps) another video detailing How? :p ...I proceeded to do more work on my Reason Rack(s) as a result of your music floating around in my head... now I have created a few new patches, combinators and complete rack versions... - I will soon need more (MIDI) control surfaces...

[@TerryTheNewsGirl]

What's with the awful music at the beginning?

[@brian.7966]

When you say unbelievable are you saying we won`t believe it? its nature that's all, I do believe it. ho dear.

[@miketravis6149]

Nature will always try to claim it back.

[@candlestyx8517]

And man will always resist and rebuild.

[@staticfanatic6361]

All these storms and all these trains, no one bothered to video from inside the trains? What's the matter, chicken?

[@vinceiswatchingyou]

Great fun. Of course a bit of wet stopped the trains. Lame

[@yakacm]

We used to live in Hastings, the beach there is made up from sand in waiting, IE big pebbles that haven't been ground down in to sand yet. When it was stormy the locals knew not to park their cars on the road next to the beach as you'd come back to find their windows smashed, you'd see visitors standing next to their cars talking to cops because they thought their cars had been vandalised, well I guess they had by the yobbish English Channel, lol.

[@josiahscarrmusic6750]

Hope someone picked up the rubbish

[@MrKveite1]

Hmm looks like a normal winter day on the Norwegian coast

[@Mrfort]

You say tin we say tain!

[@timdowney6721]

Rock, paper, scissors. It’s still water than wins in the end.

[@felixthecleaner8843]

only spoiled by the inconsiderate police flying a very noisy helicopter over David Cameron as he tried to talk to the people of Dawlish about the re-opening of the railway line...

[@bestamerica]

' no wonder why this video is a backward as reverse at 113 to 128... next time better building more little higher wall with C

[@barbaradyson6951]

Never ever underestimate the sea. Can someone explain to me why councils are so lazydaisycal in maintaining OLD buildings THAT APPEAR TO BE IN GOOD ORDER

[@diogenesesenna9323]

Because a lot of those old buildings are in private hands and are not the responsibility of councils.

[@barbaradyson6951]

@@diogenesesenna9323 councils have the power to make owners renovate or demolish plus compulsory purchase the property.

[@diogenesesenna9323]

@@barbaradyson6951 Technically true, except that that process is long-winded, expensive, and often unsuccessful. Also, any council that does use those powers are likely to take a hit at the next council election. So, basically, they (and it doesn't matter which side of the political divide) are more interested in staying in power than protecting historically important infrastructure. EDIT:Damned spelling.

[@danhorne3582]

Great video , well done . Me thinks the railway is doomed here . Global warming is not going to get better . Sadly .

[@hans2406]

In fact, a UN report states that the sea level is not rising and the global temperature isn't rising but lowering. Of course that is not what the climate maffia wants to hear, there is huge profit to be had to keep the boat floating.

[@yangtse55]

@@hans2406 link ?

[@notmanynamesleft]

Earth has been cooling since 2016, we're now entering the Eddy minimum,sea levels will gradually drop for the next 400 or so years as the poles freeze for longer and the jet stream slows.

[@Beemer917]

Got what stupid music. Can't we just watch the video I without trying to make it a horror movie.

[@judieg.7945]

Sorry, your intro is awful.

[@curtbilyeu8701]

whats with the gay music, sound effects.