Torbay Council said that it was the second time in the last eight years that there had been a major rock fall in the area.
The whole of Oddicombe Beach will be shut for several days as a result of secondary rock falls still happening.
A massive search and rescue operation took place on the beach on Sunday night after a passer-by alerted the emergency services to what was happening.
Coastguards checked the area to ensure that nobody was trapped by the rock fall and fortunately it does not appear that anyone was injured in the incident.
A Torbay Council spokeswoman said “The 5,000 tonne rock fall was from the unstable sandstone cliffs to the rear of the north beach and has covered a large section of the previously closed foreshore.”
She said the whole beach should be avoided until further notice because secondary rock falls were still occurring.
The Torbay Council should be patting themselves on the back following this rock fall. They took measures to reduce any possibility of an injury occurring by cordoning off the area at risk after the original incident in 2002 and keeping it separate from the main beach. They then responded quickly after being informed that the rock fall had taken place to ensure that no one was injured who may have been in the area at the time and now they have closed the beach to remove the risk that anyone might suffer injury through secondary risks. They will still need to monitor the area to ensure that no body tries to enter the beach for the next few days but it seems that they have done everything possible to make sure that no body suffers injury from this potentially deadly hazard.