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Rising sea levels and climate change could put 1.7 million homes at risk and turn inland towns like Cambridge into coastal areas, the Met Office is warning.

Its UK Climate Projections report, released tomorrow, will also forecast that beaches may be washed away and farmland turned into marshes by the end of this century.

The latest forecasts warn that the seas around Britain are likely to increase by 3-4ft by 2100, causing water to flood coastal areas.

Some seaside towns may have to be abandoned because the cost of sea defences will make them "unviable", while farmland between King's Lynn in Norfolk and Cambridge would lie below the new sea levels and be at risk of becoming marshland.

Many stretches of low-lying farmland would be threatened by the rising sea levels, with some - such as Romney Marsh in Kent, the Somerest Levels and parts of Essex - facing an almost constant state of flooding.

(Image: Rex Features)

According to The Sunday Times, the report will warn that a dramatic rise in sea levels could even breach the Thames barrier and threaten London.

A recent report from the Committee on Climate Change has warned that up to 1.7 million homes would face flooding. Around 100,000 coastal properties would be at risk of wave erosion, with 100,000 again at risk from landslides on seaside cliffs.

The Met Office report is the result of a three-year project commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to help prepared policymakers, transport and other infrastructure for the impact of climate change.

(Image: Getty Images) (Image: Geoff Robinson Photography/REX/Shutterstock)

"Sea-level rises, increased river flows and more frequent, more intense storm surges are all possible effects of climate change," the report is expected to say.

"This poses flooding risks to several areas of the UK, particularly along the Thames estuary."

By 2300 sea levels could have risen by 10ft, or more if icecaps in Greenland and Antarctica start melting.

(Image: Rex Features)

Climate change is driven by greenhouse gas emissions, which are currently equivalent to 50 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. When including imports and aviation, approximately one billion tons come form the UK.

The Met Office will say that if emissions continue at current levels, the Earth will warm by about four degrees by 2100. That heat will warm the sea, melting glaciers and icecaps.

Other potential effects of global warming will include an increase in winter downpours and summer droughts and an influx of parasites that normally live in warmer climates. Western Scotland and northwest England could see winter rainfall increase by up to 35 per cent.