The man who dragged his home from the brink

Is humanity facing a new flood? Rising seas have eaten into the cliffs and land around the coast, causing one ex-soldier to take extreme steps to save his home.

Lance Martin’s home was literally on a cliff edge.

It was not there when he bought his bungalow in 2017. Back then, there were 36 metres between him and the sea. Then, in 2018, the ”beast from the east” came.

The epic storm washed 27 metres of his cliff, in Hemsby, Norfolk, into the sea. Rising tides continued to nibble at what remained. Soon there was only one metre left.

The local council told him that his home was unsafe, and they would have to demolish it. In a last-ditch effort, Lance gathered a team of helpers from the local community.

Together, and with the help of a 13-tonne digger, they were able to drag his house back from the brink.

At first, it seemed that nothing was going to work. The house wouldn’t budge. Then they lifted a corner up and found a concrete plinth that was holding the house in place.

Once that was gone, it was a race against time. They chained the house to a pole and moved it just as the council was arriving to serve him notice of demolition.

In the UK, authorities fear that rising tides will see more houses like Lance’s lost to flooding and erosion. The entire village of Fairborne in Wales, has already been condemned.

In Bangladesh, four million people were displaced by flooding last year. Lance thanked everyone who pitched in to save his house, saying “The whole community has helped with this. It is a miracle.”