URGENT works will be carried out on the rock armour on Watchet's West Street beach after a second dog was pulled underwater and drowned.

Heartbroken Watchet couple Suzanne and Richard Barker had been looking after daughter Michelle's nine-year-old Jack Russell Alfie when the tragedy unfolded on Sunday.

And with fears mounting that a child or unwary walker could be next, contractors will be on-site in a matter of weeks to try and minimise the dangers.

Mrs Barker contacted the Free Press on Tuesday to warn other beach-goers to keep their pets - and children - away from the rock armour and the outfall pipe fed by the Washford River.

"It has been absolutely horrendous for us, but it could so easily have been a child or an adult.

"We're local people and we know about the dangers so if this can happen to us, it could easily happen to a holidaymaker," Mrs Barker said.

Her husband had taken Alfie for a run on the beach when the dog suddenly decided to jump into the fast-flowing water pouring on to the beach from the pipe.

Coastguards were called when the pet failed to resurface. His body was found at low water later in the afternoon.

The couple had been looking after Alfie while their daughter was away working in Australia for 12 months. She only left the UK last month.

"Alfie was her life but thankfully she has decided to stay out in Australia.

"He just adored water and swimming and for some reason just decided to jump in, although it's something he had done many times before.

"The coastguards were fantastic, one even went and got their own dog to try and help us find him later on.

"We're all just so worried it could be a child the next time," Mrs Barker said.

Just seven months ago another Jack Russell was dragged to its death underneath the rock armour.

A combination of heavy rain and high tides was blamed for creating a strong undercurrent which had eroded away a section of armour below water level to cause a whirlpool effect.

West Somerset Council put up warning signs following the first tragedy and had planned to fill the eroded rock later this year when water levels had subsided in a bid to stop whirlpools being created in the pool.

But on Tuesday, Bruce Lang, the council's corporate director, confirmed the work would be brought forward as a priority with contractors due at the beach in the next couple of weeks.

"As a council we recognise the danger and will be bringing forward plans for the remedial work but would again ask people to exercise extreme caution around the pipe and the rock armour.

"The rocks are very slippery and the water has eroded a cavity under the armour which creates a vortex and it is likely anyone who falls in would be trapped underneath the rocks.

"Hopefully, once the cavity has been filled anyone who falls in will be swept out rather than becoming trapped but we will keep the situation under constant review," Mr Lang said.

Simon Bale of the Watchet Coastguard team said there was little they could have done to save Alfie once he had been dragged beneath the surface and into the cavity created by the currents.

"We were soon on the scene but with the amount of water flowing out of the river and with the pet dog having been missing for some time and believed to have already drowned, no-one entered the water," he said.

"Last year another pet dog drowned in similar circumstances when it became trapped under the rock armour by the fast and deadly currents caused by the exiting river and the years of erosion and shifting conditions of the shoreline."