Reinforcement of island flood defence is complete

A £75m project to reinforce flood defences on an island has been completed after three years of work.

A 3km (1.9 mile) stretch of revetment on Canvey Island in Essex has been renewed with new material.

The Environment Agency (EA) said the refreshed flood defences would protect 6,000 homes and businesses until at least 2070.

EA operations manager James Mason said the defences would "easily be able to cope" if there was ever a repeat of the 1953 North Sea storm that killed 59 people on the island.

"That said, if in a massive event they were to be over-topped... there are good emergency plans in place to ensure that we would do a safe evacuation of the island," he added.

The revetment refers to the man-made material of asphalt placed on the slope leading from the shore, up to the sea wall.

Sections of the previous revetment dated back to the 1930s.

New steps to the beach and project information boards were installed, and a pathway between Thorney Bay and Chapman Sands was improved.

The EA is improving flood defences along the Thames Estuary as part of the government's Thames Estuary 2100 plan.

Mr Mason continued: "We've overlaid those older revetments, especially where they've blown and they've become void, and we've overlain it with this open stone asphalt which is a much more gradual slope which means that the wave energy is dissipated a lot more effectively which then reduces the likelihood of erosion.

"We've been using this method for decades, especially around the Essex coastline.

"So we know it's effective, we know it works well and we know that it's easy to maintain going forward."

Former Conservative Canvey Island town councillor and Castle Point borough councillor, Ray Howard MBE, survived the flood in 1953 at age 10.

"We lost everything, my father had no insurance at all," he recalled.

"I knew what it was to be poor."

He became part of a local flood defence committee for 43 years, and attended a ceremony celebrating the reinforced revetment on Friday.

"The wonderful job they've done, it's amazing," he said.

"It just pleases me to think that this scheme - that I voted for - has been a great success, and seeing my lovely officer today, I was able to thank every one of them."

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