Flooding to submerge parts of Deal and Sandwich

Mary Louis in Kent Online (UK): Huge tracts of countryside around Deal and Sandwich could be swamped and lost to the sea forever in coming decades, according to a Kent expert. This grim fate applies to south Kent's three major golf courses and would decimate the area's rich and diverse wildlife.

Nearly a third of east Kent is likely to sink below the waves by 2200, says Dr Geoff Meaden. "Call of the Wild: What Kent's wildlife and countryside tells us about climate change," will be his subject and that of another county expert, RSPB Kent site manager Michael Walter, in Deal on Friday, April 16.

Dr Meaden said: "Given the accelerating rate of sea level rise, within the first half of this century we will see a desperate struggle to maintain most of the land between Deal and Sandwich. Since the land will be too expensive to defend, it is more than likely that the authorities will allow this fresh-water marsh and grassland to revert to salt marsh.

"The Prince's, Royal St George's and Cinque Port golf links will be temporarily isolated on a narrow coastal shingle ridge before they too disappear beneath the sea during the next century."

Because Dover is on higher ground the effects would be less severe. The harbour walls would likely need to be raised and there would be some risk to buildings in the immediate vicinity. The famous white cliffs were also likely to suffer some damage....

Clubhouse at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, Deal, Kent, England, shot by Keith Duff, Wikimedia Commons via Geograph UK, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license