Following autumn storms Austen and Boelo, cliffs have formed along the coast. On the beaches of the resorts of Blankenberge and Middelkerke, these cliffs are up to 1.2 metres high. The Maritime and Coastal Services Agency (MDK) is pulling them down using machinery. In Knokke-Heist, its was local council workers that levelled the cliffs.
Storms Austen and Boelo leave cliffs up to 1.2 metres high on the Flemish coast
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The first autumn storm, Austen, swept across Belgium on Friday 23 October. The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) issued a code orange warning for gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour. A day later, storm Boelo also swept across Belgium. A code yellow warning for wind was issued for the coast.
The effects of the storms are particularly clear on the beaches of Blankenberge and Middelkerke. There, experts identified cliffs up to 1.2 metres high, stretching over hundreds of metres. These are steep, almost vertical walls of sand. They form when waves wash away sand at the high-water mark during a storm.
Higher than 1 metre
The cliffs can be dangerous. They are not always clearly visible, meaning walkers could easily experience a nasty fall. “Sometimes the beach recovers naturally, thanks to the tides. If the cliffs are higher than 1 metre, we have to level them out with a machine,” explains Dries Derudder of the Maritime Services and Coast Agency(MDK). “That is now only the case in Blankenberge and Middelkerke.”
‘The cliffs will be levelled on Thursday or Friday at the latest, so that everything is safe in the run-up to the autumn half-term.’
Cliffs had also formed on the beach in Knokke-Heist. The largest were up to 2 metres high. There local council workers demolished the cliffs. “We’ve created a sort of passageway from the soft sand to the wet sand,” explains Bert De Brabandere, the alderman responsible for beaches. “People can walk there safely. In time, the water will wash away the cliffs.”