HIGH tides damaged Felixstowe's promenade in 14 places, it was revealed today.The waves, which each exerted six tonnes of pressure in downward force as they smashed onto the walkway, caused thousands of pounds of damage.

HIGH tides damaged Felixstowe's promenade in 14 places, it was revealed today.

The waves, which each exerted six tonnes of pressure in downward force as they smashed onto the walkway, caused thousands of pounds of damage.

Huge slabs of eight inch thick concrete were lifted up and broken by the water, while huge cracks appeared in tarmac - with the sea once again undermining the defence wall and sucking out material from beneath, causing the surface to drop.

Coastal engineers have inspected the damage and steel fencing has been put around each of the damaged sections on the south seafront until repairs can be carried out.

Last week's spring tides are expected to be the last major tides for a few months.

Seafront gardens were flooded twice last week and now a clean-up operation is to take place.

A spokesman for Suffolk Coastal council said: “The work on putting the rocks in front of the sea wall has now finished and we will over the next couple of weeks be putting right the latest damage caused by the high seas.”

Beach huts, which were smashed and jumbled together in the car park at the end of Sea Road, will be also put back on their sites.

But hut owners have been worried the sites may be scrapped because of the problems each year.

“We wrote to West End beach hut owners last week to advise them that we will be moving their huts back into position this week,” said the spokesman.

“We also said that this problem of the huts having been moved by the sea on three occasions this winter has been taken very seriously by the council and it is something that will be looked into over the summer months.

“We asked that if anyone had any views they could write to Clare Baker at the Felixstowe Tourist Information Centre.”

No decisions have yet been made and hut owners would hope the council would provide alternative sites - if a safer area could be found.

When huts were moved from a previous site, owners were offered “gaps” in the resort's other sites instead.

Do you think the huts in Sea Road should stay or be moved? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk