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| Devon and Cornwall storm: Huge waves forecast | |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| The South West is preparing itself for another battering by the elements with strong winds and rain forecast for Friday night and into the weekend. | The South West is preparing itself for another battering by the elements with strong winds and rain forecast for Friday night and into the weekend. |
| There is a Met Office yellow alert, meaning be aware, for rain and an amber wind alert, meaning be prepared, for gusts up to 80mph (129km/h). | |
| Surf forecasters said the predicted wave heights of 35ft (10.6m) were the largest of the recent storms. | |
| In Devon work on the damaged section of railway at Dawlish will continue later. | In Devon work on the damaged section of railway at Dawlish will continue later. |
| 'Significantly larger' | |
| The Daily Telegraph reported that days before the recent winter storms, the Environment Agency is said to have told peers it could not act to protect the railway line at Dawlish from the sea until it had studied the impact of any improvements on local birdlife. | |
| The line at Dawlish was this week severely damaged by the surging sea amid winter storms, leaving much of Devon and Cornwall cut off from the rest of the country by rail. | |
| But the Environment Agency denied this, with a spokeswoman saying it did not "recognise the description of the recent meeting with Network Rail and peers". | |
| She added: "The focus of the meeting was to discuss the Exeter Flood Risk Management scheme and its interaction with the rail mainline going into Exeter St Davids." | |
| Railway engineers working on the damaged section of track at Dawlish, where the line runs at the very edge of the coast but has been left dangling above the sea after land was washed away, will continue with attempts to protect the track from the next bout of bad weather. | |
| Concrete will be sprayed on to the cliff to try to limit the short term damage. Work to restore the line properly starts next week. | |
| Jacqueline Coles, one of those evacuated from her home in Dawlish said: "I won't feel safe even when they say we can go back. I'm going to say 'I'm not going back, you will have to put me somewhere else'." | |
| Transport Minister Patrick McLoughlin is due to visit the town later. | |
| 'Exposing defences' | |
| Ed Temperley of surf forecasters Magic Seaweed, warned waves close to shore would be "significantly larger" than waves from the storm dubbed Hercules that hit the South West on 6 January. | |
| "When these forces come in conjunction with high winds, and a strong wind and pressure driven tidal surge impacting already weakened sea defences, it may result in significant damage," he said. | |
| "On the plus side we will be seeing neap tides (a low high tide) but the worry is that any benefits that may bring will be negated by the sand having been stripped from many beaches. | |
| "This natural barrier serves as a first line of defence and many beaches have lost several feet, exposing defences directly." | |
| Tresco's famous Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly have been put in danger from the storms. | |
| The Tresco gardens have about 20,000 species from 80 different countries. | The Tresco gardens have about 20,000 species from 80 different countries. |
| Created by Lord Proprietor of the Isles of Scilly Augustus Smith in 1834, they are normally protected by sand dunes. | Created by Lord Proprietor of the Isles of Scilly Augustus Smith in 1834, they are normally protected by sand dunes. |
| But storms have ripped up 15m (50ft) of the dunes, putting the gardens at risk of being swamped by the sea. | But storms have ripped up 15m (50ft) of the dunes, putting the gardens at risk of being swamped by the sea. |
| Curator Mike Nelhams said it was a worrying situation and he was urgently looking at ways further erosion of the dunes could be prevented. | Curator Mike Nelhams said it was a worrying situation and he was urgently looking at ways further erosion of the dunes could be prevented. |
| In a statement the Duchy of Cornwall, which owns most of the land on the Isles of Scilly, said: "Members of the Duchy staff and representatives from the Council and Wildlife Trust have been assessing the damage on an on-going basis. Emergency repair work has already taken place in a few places including the tidal gate on the slip at Porthloo." | In a statement the Duchy of Cornwall, which owns most of the land on the Isles of Scilly, said: "Members of the Duchy staff and representatives from the Council and Wildlife Trust have been assessing the damage on an on-going basis. Emergency repair work has already taken place in a few places including the tidal gate on the slip at Porthloo." |