Rising Sea Level Leaves Yacht Club Car Park Under Water

[Carl]

'Low atmospheric pressure is causing a significant rise in sea level. These images show how seawater has reached the parking lot of the Torrevieja Yacht Club . This represents a rise of approximately 40 cm compared to the usual sea level in the area. Video: Joaquín Carrión.'

At least being the yacht club car park those parking there are probably use to getting their feet wet.

[Bee]

nice one Carl. On a serious note being on the sea front is not going to have the appeal it once had. It is frightening to see the sea on the same level as the car park. Next all the boats will arrive up on the street.

Bee

[Carl]

nice one Carl. On a serious note being on the sea front is not going to have the appeal it once had. It is frightening to see the sea on the same level as the car park. Next all the boats will arrive up on the street.

Bee

Shows how vulnerable that area is when the water level rises, and perhaps consideration should be given to installing some sort of preventative measures. I thought there had been a similar occurrence in recent months which I had posted on here, but it was actually back in September 2023.

Had noticed from the live webcam covering Playa del Cura that this beach had largely been taken over by the sea for the last few day as well.

[Carl]

On the subject of Playa del Cura:

https://www.informacion.es/vega-baja/20 ... =btn-share

Google translate, minus video and pictures:

The sea is "swallowing" part of the Cura beach in Torrevieja and will force the demolition of one of its access ramps.

The beach regeneration project, which is pending environmental assessment, warns that if no action is taken, the beach will cease to exist in 20 years.

The recent storms this winter have split the Playa del Cura beach in Torrevieja in two, and for now, that's how it remains. Its just over 370 meters of continuous sand are no longer accessible. Although the most intense low-pressure system, which causes a temporary rise in sea level, has passed, waves continue to crash directly against a section of the concrete wall along the Avenida de Los Marineros promenade. At that same spot, the waves have also washed away one of the six pedestrian access points to one of the most popular beaches on the Valencian coast.

And now, in addition, two hundred linear meters of this beach have been left without sand and are on "live rock", low cliff rock that appears in view as a natural extension of the rocky coastline of the Juan Aparicio promenade, known precisely by the people of Torrevieja as the Las Rocas promenade.

The City Council has had to seal off and secure the section of the promenade next to the damaged access point with fencing to prevent pedestrian access. The standard protocol in these cases dictates that the local administration must notify the Coastal Territorial Service of the incident because it affects the public maritime domain of the beach.

In the air

The concrete and wood infrastructure is now unusable. The force of the sea has undermined the interior of the access structure, which consists of a ramp and stairs. Part of it is hanging in mid-air. The rest has collapsed. It is highly likely that its complete demolition will be authorized, as the damage makes repair impossible, and that the City Council will not consider rebuilding it.

At least until the Ministry for Ecological Transition is clear on what to do with the beach regeneration project, already drafted and approved in the first half of 2024, with a planned investment of 1.5 million euros, which the City Council, which has a lot at stake with the regression of its most popular beach, was willing to assume from its municipal budget.

The final step before the contract could be awarded — a process that began a year and a half ago — was the standard environmental impact assessment. This assessment is quite complex because the project involves building a 75-meter breakwater starting from the artificial bastion of El Tintero — where the Coastal Authority, faced with the City Council's inaction in trying to clear the way for the project, demolished the kiosk — and adding more than 23,300 cubic meters of sand to restore the beach to its condition in 1995.

Five entrances

Along the beach are five other very similar ramp access points, ensuring easy access for beachgoers, who will undoubtedly fill every last inch of the beach during Easter and the long summer months. The beach cleaning and maintenance services know exactly what to do. They need to be patient and work in the lead-up to Easter, hoping for no more storms before the peak season, and using machinery to remove the accumulated sediment from the shoreline.

Thus the beach will recover its most usual appearance: one hectare of usable surface between El Tintero and Punta Margalla, which official information on the information panels assures is up to 27 meters wide at its widest point, located at the northern end of the beach.

The Cura beach regeneration project points to two fundamental causes that explain the disappearance of the sand, especially in its central section. One is the lack of sediment supply that should arrive from the Segura River, a situation that has existed since the beginning of the 20th century when the main infrastructure projects to regulate the river, reuse its water, and prevent flooding were built. This situation has been aggravated by the intense urbanization of the beach's surroundings, which also affects the supply of materials from former ravines and gullies that are now urbanized. The second cause is the gradual rise in sea level. The beach's erosion is documented and supported in this study with orthophotos dating back to 1931.

According to the same project, the erosion process has accelerated in recent winters. "If no measures are taken to stabilize and restore the beach, its evolution will be determined by the current erosion process, which has been causing a constant loss of beach for more than three decades."

The sediment dynamics study reveals that the average annual beach retreat is approximately half a meter per year. "And if no stabilization or beach regeneration measures are taken, within 20 years the beach will have almost completely disappeared along a 130-meter stretch." This is precisely the central section that is currently suffering the worst consequences of storms . The same public body that commissioned the project containing this conclusion has yet to issue a ruling on an environmental impact assessment that had a six-month processing period.

[Bee]

You will need to bring your own ladder especially if you want to put out your deckchair at 5.00am. At least the tractor harrowing the sand won't bother you

Bee