A family was forced to flee for their lives today after a massive rockfall covered the beach they were walking on with hundreds of tonnes of shale, shale and limestone rock.
Elizabeth and Ronald Downes were with their two grandchildren, son, daughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law on Charmouth Beach in Dorset when the cliff suddenly collapsed.
The group had to split up and run in different directions to escape the hundreds of tons of falling shale, shale and limestone.
Mr Downes, 58, and Mrs Downes, 56, were separated from the rest of their family in the dramatic incident which left the children distraught and crying.
Mrs Downes, from Danbury, Essex, said: “My family were on the beach at the time the rockfall happened. “We got separated and had to run – it was like a domino effect.
Elizabeth and Ronald Downes were with their two grandchildren, son, daughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law on Charmouth Beach in Dorset when the cliff suddenly collapsed. In the photo: The remains of yesterday’s landslide.
The group had to split up and run in different directions to escape the hundreds of tons of falling shale, shale and limestone.
The grandparents were separated from the rest of their family in the dramatic incident which left the children distraught and crying.
“We were very shocked and scared; we were running for our lives; they could have killed us.”
‘They separated us from our grandchildren, they were hysterical and crying, they didn’t know if we had lost our lives. We were all very scared and ran like crazy.
‘We come every year and we are very aware of the dangers and not to go near the cliffs. We were also worried because the tide was rising.
“We let people know when we were going back to the car because it was still going down.”
He said the family had been visiting the Jurassic Coast for 27 years to look for fossils and knew the dangers of the unstable cliffs there.
Mr Downes and Mrs Downes’ daughter, who did not want to be named, added: “We are very cautious because we know the dangers. “We walked along the sea line looking for fossils there, away from the cliff.
‘I remember as a child my dad always said that if you hear what sounds like a bag of peas rustling, look up and run.
The landslide occurred near the Stonebarrow Hill cliffs which partially blocked Charmouth beach in Dorset.
The devastating and dangerous rockfall occurred around 7.30am on Sunday.
A paraglider flies over the top of the landslide near Charmouth Beach in Dorset yesterday.
‘I heard what sounded like a bag of peas, it sounded very light, like sand dripping.
‘I looked up and saw this very fine dust and I knew it right away. I yelled “look up, run” and the top of the cliff just fell and everything came towards us.
‘Mum and Dad were ahead and they ran forward and we ran back along the beach. It was absolutely horrible, especially with small children. My husband ran with one of the children and I dragged the other by the hand.
‘Large rocks were falling and we were trying to escape from the cracks as they fell. She reached the sea line.
“We were lucky and unlucky. If I hadn’t been told about the rockfalls and if I hadn’t known they were a warning sign, I don’t think we would have gotten out of it.
“If we had been closer to the cliff, we would have been dead.”
Staff at Charmouth Heritage Center arrived at work on Sunday morning to find the aftermath and warned people to stay away as falling rocks continued throughout Sunday.
Phil Davidson, a paleontologist at the center, said it is very dangerous and people should stay away from the exposed cliff line.
He added: “All the rain we’ve had this winter and spring is seeping through the mud and clay, we’ll probably end up with more landslides.”
‘As it’s a recent fall, it will be sticky if you try to climb up it, and you could sprain your ankle and get stuck.
“People should also check the tides, as there is a danger of running out of water.”
The rockfall occurred around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.
On Friday afternoon, a 14-year-old boy had to be rescued from the same cliff after becoming trapped 12 meters high while searching for fossils.
Two coast guard teams and two fire teams had to assist in bringing the child down safely.
In 2012, tourist Charlotte Blackman, 22, was crushed to death when a similar landslide occurred while she was walking under the cliffs at Burton Bradstock.
And a massive 30-foot boulder collapsed just meters from walkers in March in nearby West Bay.
On Friday night, a 14-year-old boy had to be stretchered off the cliff and rescued by firefighters.
The 14-year-old boy (pictured) had been climbing from the same cliff when he got stuck after climbing 40 feet while searching for fossils.
A massive 30-foot boulder collapsed just meters from walkers in March in nearby West Bay, narrowly missing families walking along the sandy beach.
Pictured in 2024: The cliffs at nearby Burton Bradstock have been seen crumbling further towards the sea over time.
Pictured in 2023: Recent extreme weather has caused thousands of tonnes of rock to fall from the area around Burton Bradstock.
Photographed in 2022: The cliffs are made up of sandstone rock which is porous and acts like a sponge with rainwater seeping through it and weakening it over time.
In 2012, tourist Charlotte Blackman, 22, was crushed to death when a similar landslide occurred while she was walking beneath the Dorset cliffs at Burton Bradstock.
The cliffs, where the popular ITV show Broadchurch (pictured) was filmed, are made up of sandstone rock which is porous and acts like a sponge with rainwater seeping in and weakening the stone over time.
The cliffs along the Jurassic Coast have become incredibly unstable due to recent bad weather and there have been a series of rockfalls and landslides in the last month.
They are some of the most iconic sights in Britain, measuring 140 feet tall and over 180 million years old.
Recent extreme weather has caused huge chunks of rock to fall onto the beach around Burton Bradstock.
Images of the rockfall show boulders the size of double-decker buses resting on a 50-foot pile of rubble.
The area, where the popular ITV show Broadchurch was filmed, experienced a major rockfall after Storm Kathleen hit, causing 600 tonnes to fall from the cliff.
The cliffs are made up of sandstone rock which is porous and acts like a sponge with rainwater seeping in and weakening the stone over time.
At the same time, strong storm-tossed waves batter the base of the cliffs, also destabilizing them.
Some geologists believe that rockfalls are a consequence of global warming.