Re-building the sea defences

Work is starting to repair damage caused by the storms that battered almost every part of the South West coast.

Our Cornwall Correspondent Steve Hardy reports from Portreath, where the harbour wall was hit by 30 feet high waves, destroying a stone hut that had stood for more than a hundred years:

There's been another massive cliff fall at Burton Bradstock in Dorset. Hundreds of tonnes have fallen onto the beach.

It's close to the place where Charlotte Blackman was killed in a cliff fall two years ago. People are being warned to stay away from cliffs which may be unstable after the recent heavy rain.

The Government has announced an additional £6.7m to help local councils deal with the damage caused by flooding and recent severe weather. The money will be used to help affected communities recover.

One of those most affected is the area around Muchelney on the Somerset Levels. Despite the problems being faced by those who live there, they say community spirit is keeping them going.

John Bevir reports:

Work is starting across the region to repair the damage caused by the storms that battered almost every part of the South West coast.

On the north coast of Cornwall, Portreath's harbour wall was battered by 30 foot waves. They smashed to pieces the iconic stone hut which had stood for more than a hundred years.

Andy Brigden, who is the Maritime Manager for Cornwall Council, says he's never known anything like it:

Work is starting across the region to repair the damage caused by the storms that battered almost every part of the South West Coast.

In Dorset, Chesil Beach, which stretches from Portland to West Bay is a Heritage site - but the storms have meant that everything from dead animals to Christmas trees have ended up on the shingle.

Martin Dowse reports:

Work is starting across the region to repair the damage caused by the storms that battered almost every part of the South West coast.

The video clip below shows repairs to the harbour wall and sea wall in Portreath, Cornwall - which were battered by 30 foot waves, and repairs to a road at Towan Beach in Newquay:

Councils who are faced with repair bills running into hundreds of millions of pounds in the wake of heavy rain and flooding are calling on the Government for help.

The Local Government Association wants the Department for Transport to create a highways maintenance emergency fund, similar to the one set up in 2007 following severe flooding, to help affected local authorities with funding for emergency and unforeseeable works to their local roads network.

Read: Royal Marines help rescue stranded cars in Cornish village after UK storms

The LGA said that the Government help plan - the Bellwin Scheme - to assist in times of extreme floods - only goes so far and warned that vital investment in local growth and infrastructure projects could suffer if government does not step in to ease the cost of flood repairs.

Watch: Wakeboarders use flooded car park as playground

The Local Government Association said that with an existing £10.5 billion repair backlog for highways, the Government's Bellwin Scheme is not adequate funding to cover repairs caused by the severe weather, and local councils have been left with a "daunting trail of destruction."

Read: Flood-hit councils ask Government for emergency cash

Flood Recovery Minister Brandon Lewis said "the Government is now fully focused on helping those affected get back on their feet", adding that it was "providing over £3.4 billion in this Parliament and over £5.8 billion in the next for local highways maintenance."

An oil company is giving free fuel to people living in a Somerset village cut off by floods.

Residents of Muchelney are rapidly running out of heating oil, because vehicles can't get to their homes. 40 containers are due to be delivered by boat this morning, donated by Certas Energy.

The Bridgwater MP Ian Liddell-Grainger today added his voice to calls for two rivers to be dredged to ease flooding on the Somerset Levels.

There have been arguments in recent years about how much water could be carried by the Tone and Parrett if they were cleared of silt - and how much flooding would be prevented.

Our Somerset correspondent David Woodland has found proof at Somerset's first pumping station that the bed of the River Parrett there is now ten feet higher than it used to be: