BAD weather and strong winds have gouged chunks out of Weymouth Beach.

Vast quantities of Weymouth’s famous sands have been pulled out to sea by the weekend’s bad weather.

Concerned residents called the Echo this morning to report the damage.

One eyewitness, who did not wish to be named, said: “I was driving along the seafront on Sunday evening and the waves were battering the beach. Weymouth Bay is normally so calm but there were waves crashing up right the way along the seafront.

“I’ve never seen the sea so rough there.

“It was very windy and I think coupled with the high tide, that’s why the waves were so rough. There were some people walking along the Esplanade and it looked as though they were struggling to stay upright.”

Heavy rain and strong winds battered the coastline on Sunday. The Met Office had issued a yellow weather warning for wind on Sunday and said that gusts could be up to 60mph, although this warning was later scaled back not to cover Dorset.

The weather, coupled with the high spring tides across the weekend, ate away at the sand.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council spent a week in March rebuilding and levelling the beach ahead of the summer season.

Kevin Good, Beach Manager for Weymouth & Portland Borough Council, said:

“We were fully aware of the predicted Easterly winds coinciding with the Spring tides and any impacts were protected against prior to Saturday. It is not unusual for this to happen when these conditions occur and the regrading of the beach that took place in March took into account this possibility.

“We will be starting some cosmetic remedial work over the next couple of days, and will continue to monitor the situation over the coming weeks.”

Looking ahead to this week’s weather, it looks like Weymouth and the Jurassic Coast will be in for another mixed bag of weather.

Tomorrow will see sunny spells in the afternoon and highs of 11 degrees. Wednesday will be overcast but mild at 12 degrees, while Thursday and Friday could see sunshine and showers throughout the day. The weekend will be equally as changeable with sunshine and showers and highs of 11 degrees.

For all the latest weather news, traffic and travel visit dorsetecho.co.uk.