Up to 5,000 people have been evacuated and a secondary school was forced to close today after two unexploded World War Two bombs were discovered in separate locations across Devon.
Police declared a ‘major incident’ as bomb squads raced to a building site in Plymouth and a marina in Exmouth after a ‘very large’ device was dredged from the water.
Up to 2,000 homes and businesses were emptied after emergency crews enforced huge cordons, as residents living within 1,300ft warned they still might not be able to return tonight.
Exmouth resident Eleanor Bradburn said she saw large numbers of police arrive last night before getting a ‘knock on the door’ and ordered to evacuate. She said: ‘I just grabbed a few things.. and went to the pub’.
Office worker Fiona Bolt says she was at her desk which overlooks the marina when she was told to leave.
‘We don’t know when we’re going to get back. I don’t know when I can open my office again. I’d like to know what’s the likely time scale for this to be sorted.
While parts of Plymouth have been brought to a standstill, one defiant cafe owner insisted they were staying open.
Blooming Brew in Plymouth – which sits just outside the city’s no-go zone – told its customers: ‘No WW2 bomb will stop us from closing. We are still open today.’
News of the discovery in Plymouth was something of a Groundhog Day for locals, with one posting on X: ‘When you hear a WW2 bomb has been found in Plymouth’ along with a viral meme of ‘Brenda from Bristol’ and her famous slogan: ‘You’re joking, not another one!’
In February 2024, the city famously went into lockdown with 10,000 people evacuated when unexploded WW2 bomb was discovered in a back garden by a father digging the foundations of his daughter’s new extension.
The discovery brought out the best of the city’s community spirit as kind locals took in evacuated residents while the 500kg explosive was extracted and transported by a military convoy through the city before being dropped into the sea.
An unexploded World War Two bomb was discovered at a building site in Plymouth
One local posted a viral meme of ‘Brenda from Bristol’ after a bomb was found in Plymouth for the second time in two years
One business defiantly declared ‘No WW2 bomb will stop us’ after a the a major incident was declared in the city
A police cordon was set up in Plymouth after a bomb was found at a building site
Police set up a cordon in Plymouth after a World War Two bomb was found at a building site
a 400 metre cordon is in place around Exmouth Marina after a device was found during routine dredging
A local school in Exmouth offered PE kits and packed lunches to families who could not go home last night
The world watched on as the Army conducted the nerve-shredding mission to shift the live Nazi bomb through the streets of Plymouth – marking one Britain’s largest ever peacetime evacuations.
While the latest discovery looks unlikely to cause chaos on the scale seen in 2024, displaced locals have been told they face ‘another night’ away from their homes.
East Devon District Council leader Paul Arnott said: ‘It would be dishonest of me not to say there is another night of this, where people are going to have to be in temporary accommodation.’
It comes after a German SC50 bomb, an explosive used by the Luftwaffe during World War Two, was discovered in Exmouth’s marina yesterday morning. A 1,300ft cordon remains in place.
Exmouth Beach has also been closed as a precaution, with the device likely to be detonated out at sea.
Separately, a major incident was declared in Plymouth after a 50kg German WW2 bomb was found on a building site yesterday morning – causing its port to close.
Royal Navy experts in Plymouth are currently awaiting specialist X-ray equipment to determine the safest way to make the explosive device safe.
The bomb in Plymouth is ‘relatively small’ but could wreak ‘quite considerable’ damage, according to Dr Harry Bennett, from Plymouth University.
He told the BBC: ‘It’s a general purpose bomb and of course the Germans dropped a substantial number of them over Plymouth during March and April 1941 as part of the Plymouth Blitz causing massive devastation.
‘It’s a relatively small bomb but you don’t want even a relatively small bomb going off in a relatively built up area.’
Plymouth Council said that a ‘much larger’ bomb has been found in Exmouth, which will have first use of the X-ray device.
A spokesperson said there will be no further evacuation of residential properties, but could not confirm when the area would be made safe.
Members of the public were urged to avoid the Millbay area as residents were evacuated
A Royal Navy bomb team was called to Plymouth after an ordnance was found in the Millbay area
A 320ft cordon is in place in the city’s Millbay area with those living nearby being ‘strongly advised to leave their homes’.
Pupils from the nearby Millbay Academy were forced to evacuate from their classes yesterday, and have not been able to return today.
Bomb squads arrived in the city last night but had to pause their work when it became too dark, leaving locals stranded overnight.
Devon MP David Reed said he was proud of the way the ‘community has come together during this unexpected turn of events’.
He added: ‘A huge thank you to all the teams working around the clock to bring this situation to a safe conclusion, particularly in very wet and challenging conditions.
‘Thanks as well to the LED staff, volunteers, and council staff for the care, reassurance, and support they are providing to those affected.’
Coastal towns and cities in Devon were a major target for German aircraft during WW2 due to important ports and infrastructure in the county.
More than 2,000 bombs are believed to have been dropped over Plymouth, with around 10 per cent failing to detonate.
