CLIMATE CHANGE HITS BOTH SIDES OF ‘THE POND’ (WINTER 2025)

Financial assistance to protect Salem’s 17th century historic building known as The Counting House was among the news items in the Autumn 2025 issue of The Conant Courier. 

The threat from flooding in Salem caused by climate change was highlighted last October in an article by Ryan Krugman in Inside Climate News. 


It was vividly illustrated by this photo taken by Paul Wright during the 2024 Nor’easter storm. 

On the other side of the Atlantic, Storm Ciarán severely affected parts of Europe from late October to early November of the previous year killing 21 people, eleven of whom were in Italy and four in France.   

 

At Steamer Steps, on Budleigh Salterton’s pebble beach, the West End kiosk hardly ranks as a historic building. Yet it was much loved and is sorely missed by local people while discussions for a replacement are ongoing.  

Photos courtesy of West End Kiosk 

The sight of this much loved beach feature, smashed to pieces by Storm Ciarán on 2 November 2023, was shocking proof of coastal vulnerability. Falls from the area’s cliffs, which consist of layers of sandstone that are about 180 million years old, continue to be a regular occurrence.   


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