A busy road has been buried by hundreds of tons of rock after a ‘thunderous’ landslide left local houses ‘bouncing’ last week.
Debris and large boulders crashed down from a cliff face in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, on Friday evening during a landslide which miraculously caused no injury despite falling directly onto a busy road.
A section of the coastal Belgrave Road now remains closed and buried under piles of fallen rock, with locals living in the area left blocked off.
Residents have recalled the booming sound they heard when the cliff face fell, which they say was akin to a ‘bomb going off.’
Roy Rigby, who lives less than 100m from the scene and was the first person to alert emergency services, said: ‘I was awake in bed and heard this incredible noise. It sounded like thunder overhead.
‘The house bounced. I knew it wasn’t thunder, but my first thought was the retaining wall opposite had collapsed.’
His wife, Penny Allison, added: ‘I was asleep in bed and it suddenly woke me up. The whole house shook.
‘It was like thunder – a terrific bang.’
Residents living around the coastal Belgrave Road have been left blocked off by a huge pile of boulders on the road
Locals recalled the sound of the cliff falling as being akin to a ‘bomb going off’
Belgrave Road, a busy coastal route, remains closed following the landslip which almost crashed directly onto local homes
Other locals described the ‘unbelievable moment’ as ‘like an earthquake.’
‘The windows started shuddering, then I heard an absolute rumble,’ recalled Sophie Blake, who lives below the cliff.
‘The house was vibrating. It was like an earthquake. My son-in-law, who lives near me, said he was in the bath at the time and the water was moving back and forth.
‘It was unbelievable. We have badgers living behind us, so when I saw two of them run off, I thought, oh my God.’
Another resident, Jody Berry, remembered her ‘house shaking so much’ that birthday cards fell from the worktops.
Following the landslide, local councillor Ed Blake said he had repeatedly asked for something to be done about the dangerous rocks in the lead up to their collapse.
‘It either needed a rock netting placed over it, or controlled removal,’ he added.
‘But instead, there are water-filled barriers, which were not only unsightly, they were going to be useless should something happen, as shown by last night’s fall.
‘I’m just glad no one was under it when it fell.’
Local highway authority, Island Roads, said it has ‘every sympathy’ with disgruntled local residents unable to travel through the busy coastal road.
Friday’s landslide, however, is far from the first to have occurred in the Isle of Wight
Ed Blake says he has tried repeatedly to have the rocks moved but to no avail
Friday’s landslide is far from a one-off on the Isle of Wight, however, where landslides are worryingly common.
Incidents such as the 1928 Great Cliff Fall and the devastating collapses at Blackgang in 1978 and 1994 are just a few examples of the many landslips to occur on the island.
More recently, just half a mile away from Friday’s landslide, a huge cliff fall in Bonchurch in 2023 left dozens of people homeless in the weeks before Christmas.
One of the largest ever recorded on the island, huge chunks of rocks collapsed from a cliff on the southern coast of the island, with some homes left perilously close to following them down the ridge towards the sea.
The fall on the evening of December 10 2023, saw a cafe, car park and toilet destroyed.
And in January 2020, a landslip on the very same road as the one on Friday resulted in the area being closed for almost two years as geological tests were carried out.
In the lead up to this week’s cliff collapse, the area, known as ‘windy corner,’ was highlighted as a potential risk with a safety banner in place for years.
In December 2023, another landslide on the Isle of Wight left homes perilously close to a Bonchurch cliff edge
A spokesperson for the local highway authority said: ‘The Isle of Wight Council and Island Roads will continue to monitor this significant rockfall at Belgrave Road and will take all appropriate action to protect the public, extending the current road closure if necessary.
‘There will then need to be a detailed assessment of the movement as this area is known to suffer from geological instability.
‘Island Roads and the council will then work towards determining what action is required to ensure the safety of the area with the intention of removing the fallen rocks and re-opening the road at the earliest opportunity.
‘As always, this will be done when we are sure no further imminent movement is likely at this location. Island Roads will also be contacting the private owners of the rockface to discuss their role in this process.
‘Island Roads and the Isle of Wight Council has every sympathy with Ventnor residents who once again face inconvenience due to the town’s unique geological features.
‘We can assure them we will be working with the Island Roads to resolve this issue as soon as possible.’
