Speaking to BBC Radio Devon, Brazil said “there’s absolutely no way” county and district councils could afford to fix the road on their own.
He said: “It’s way out of our price range. We are dependent on government. Quite rightly, government may say, ‘no, because we think it could be putting money against something we may lose again’.
“We could spend tens of millions – because that’s how much it will cost to repair the road – and next year it could just be washed away again.
“We do need to start thinking, has nature had its way here?
“If [government] is not going to give us money to mend the road, we need money for that adaptation plan, for that transformation.”