The 600 meter cordon around Exmouth Marina has been lifted, and dispersed residents have been able to return home, some for the first time in two nights.
The unexploded Second World War bomb, dredged out of the water earlier this week, was towed at hightide this morning to a location off the coast and disposed of safely.
Councilor Paul Arnott, Leader of East Devon District Council, and Deputy Leader of Devon County Council, and still minutes before the bomb was detonated, spoke of his impression about how the event went:
The device was uncovered during routine dredging operations on Wednesday and prompted an immediate, coordinated multi-agency response.
Bomb disposal experts from the military took the unexploded bomb to sea before detonating it.
The officials agreed that the safest and least impactful option is to carefully transport it during high tide, at 4:40am.