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Caution urged after rockfalls

EXTRA CARE should be taken on the south coast as the danger of rockfalls increases.

Fallen rocks on Petit Bot beach. (Picture by Sophie Rabey, 26337957)
Fallen rocks on Petit Bot beach. (Picture by Sophie Rabey, 26337957) / Guernsey Press

Agriculture, Countryside & Land Management Services has issued the warning for the bays between Fermain and Portelet.

Within the past week a large section of the cliff has fallen to the beach at Petit Bot.

ACLMS has reassured the public that cliffs in that area are checked regularly and worked on by contractors, who abseil from their summit removing loose stones and shards.

Yet even with these precautionary measures it is not possible to prevent entirely the risk of rock falls.

Signs have also been placed around bays at risk.

Cliff faces weather over the years through wind, rainfall or freeze and thaw conditions – between rocks – and this increases the risk of rockfalls.

With the extremely heavy rainfall over the past month leaving the ground saturated, the natural process has been accelerated.

The growth of vegetation, or small earth tremors that we do not feel, also have the potential to loosen material which can lead to landslips.

Therefore soft cliffs of loose clays and small stones, such as those at Fermain, Moulin Huet, Petit Bot and Portelet, can lose material.

This is particularly so after periods of weather such as this autumn has produced. This October was the wettest since 1960.

On this occasion, no debris will be removed, but the area will continue to be monitored.

It is likely that the debris will be dispersed on the next high tide.

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