On a windy day, you'd be forgiven for thinking Oystermouth Road in Swansea - or certainly the pavement running alongside it - was actually the desert, or maybe even just one big beach with cars driving up and down it! Even the slightest of breeze can cause the road to be covered with sand, whilst a strong wind or stormy day sees tons of it shifted from the shore and deposited on the road.
Over the years, Swansea Council has brought in various measures to try to keep the sand where it belongs - on the beach - but it's been a constant battle with the elements. In 2016, severe weather saw the council work with Natural Resources Wales to introduce a "sand-trapping fence" to help create sand dunes further down the beach and away from the sea-wall.
Whilst the fence served its purpose for a good while, by the time of Storm Ali in 2018, the council had to bring in contractors to dig a three-metre trench along the length of the sea-wall on the beach and use a JCB to transfer tonnes of sand further down the beach, nearer the sea, as the sand had spread in the storm. Sand, which had blown into the road, however, could not be transferred back onto the beach for fear of contamination - so was mixed with salt and used in the winter months to help grit the roads.
