A giant sand dune is being built on England's east coast to save 400 homes from storm surges, in Britain's first attempt to use "sandscaping" to stave off rising seas and prepare for a changing climate, engineers said on Tuesday.
The novel project, set to finish this month, will only buy north Norfolk residents about 20 to 30 years before erosion and likely relocation, said Jaap Flikweert of Royal HaskoningDHV, the Dutch engineering company that designed the project.
"This coast will continue to erode. ... These communities will at some point have to move back inland," Flikweert said. "This project is giving them time to adapt to that reality of coastal change."