WHAT a difference a week makes.It wasn't just the showers people were dodging at Felixstowe as walkers on the prom had to keep a lookout for massive waves soaking them with sea spray.

WHAT a difference a week makes.

It wasn't just the showers people were dodging at Felixstowe as walkers on the prom had to keep a lookout for massive waves soaking them with sea spray.

Spring tides are sweeping ashore this week, powered by gale-force winds, and creating quite a spectacle on the resort's seafront. It is certainly a change from the summer-like weather of last week.

People along the whole of the Suffolk coast have been warned to prepare for a battering with the combination of extra high tides and blustery winds set to go on for several days.

Felixstowe's East Beach saw the power of nature at high tide yesterday as rolling mud-coloured and marbled waves smashed against the edge of the prom, sending spray high into the air.

A number of people gathered to watch the sight, keeping well back or sitting in their cars with hot mugs of tea as the sea provided the show.

Sea defences held firm and the rocks placed on the beach opposite the Fludyers as an emergency measure to stop the prom from collapsing stood firm, soaking up the raw energy of the waves smashing into them.

The hotspot for erosion now appears to be the breakwaters alongside the protected area, where beach levels have dropped several feet and there could again be a danger of the prom's foundations being at risk.

This section, close to Cobbold's Point, was being pounded by the swell of the sea, though it could be replenished by the waves just as quickly.

Council officers are understood to be keeping a close eye on the area but are not unduly worried at the present time.

One casualty of the erosion in the area though was a beach hut which has seen its platform undermined because of the removal of beach. The owners have had to strap it to the wooden base to prevent it vanishing into the sea.

Because of the erosion, hut owners have had to provide wooden bases, some concreted into the beach, to provide a secure, firm and flat platform for their wooden chalets so that they can remain on the beach.

Elsewhere on the seafront the waves came close to the prom, but never threatened the gardens. The floodgates remain closed until later this month.