The Breach at Alkborough on the Humber Estuary in Eastern England As sea levels rise around the world many areas of low lying land are at increasing risk of coastal flooding and are getting increasingly expensive to protect In order to protect nearby urban areas coastal realignment or managed retreat is now being used to take the pressure off during increasingly common storm surges At Alkborough a 20 metre wide breach has been created in the sea defences to allow sea water to flood into former agricultural land creating 150 hectares of wetland As well as protecting nearby urban areas from flooding the site also provides valuable wetland habitat for wildlife Alkborough is currently the largest coastal realignment projec tin Europe and has been quickly colonised by wildlife
