Storm hell holidaymakers rescued
NEARLY 200 people had to be rescued from a flooded holiday park as 65mph gales and heavy rain battered the South Coast yesterday.
Emergency crews helped residents flee swamped chalets as a torrent swept cars through the Medmerry site near Selsey, West Sussex. Some sheltered in a pub and a community centre and one was taken to hospital with suspected hypothermia.
Authorities said an exceptionally high tide combined with strong wind to create “horrendous” conditions.
The park will be closed until May 13, according to its website last night.
Along the coast the foreshore at Milford on Sea in Hampshire was littered with the remains of beach huts that had plunged down eroding cliffs.
Elsewhere, some locals were told to move to higher ground after a river overflowed. West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said: “Crews are supporting rescue operations in Littlehampton near Ferry Road and Rope Walk where the River Arun has burst its banks, leading to severe flooding. Residents should remain in their properties if it is safe to do.”
Swamped
One business owner said parts of the town were “devastated” by floods and her elderly parents were helped to escape in the early hours.
Christine Coe, 54, who runs Rita’s Diner, said the situation was “very bad”, and her husband’s workshops where he runs a classic car business were swamped.
She said: “My parents are in their 70s.They live just off RopeWalk, and they are both shocked.
“I’ve spoken with them, they’re staying with family at the moment, but they can’t come back to their bungalow because it’s under water.
“My husband and his business partner’s two car units are under water. They’re just trying to get one of the cars out as the water was over the height of the car wheels. It’s very bad down here.”
A resident in nearby Shorehamby-Sea said flooding there was “scary and unprecedented”, after he stayed up until the early hours putting defences around his property.
Gareth Theobald, 36, said: “I was out the front of the building and watching the water just get higher and higher and higher, and then helping or stopping traffic going into the flood waters, and then just watching in disbelief.
“The whole of Brighton Road and our development was being engulfed by flood waters.The amount of water is scary and unprecedented.
“Those houses opposite our development are lower-ground flats and they were all flooded under a foot or so of water.”
Floods also affected the railway at Lymington Pier, while coastal roads were left impassable in parts of Southampton. Firms and pubs had
already been hit by Storm Kathleen, with The Ship Inn at Langstone in Havant, Hants, also flooded due to the high tide early yesterday.
Further afield, beach huts were washed into the sea in Falmouth, Cornwall, as the area was hit by strong winds, spring tides and storm surges.
Motorists had to be rescued from vehicles at high tide on The Strood, near Colchester, Essex.
The severe weather also saw huge waves batter seafronts in Porthcawl, South Wales, and Blackpool while trees were brought down on Merseyside.
There was also widespread rush-hour travel disruption across the South and South Western Railway said replacement buses were requested between Lymington Pier and Brockenhurst in the New Forest. Flooding shut railway tracks between Clifton Down and Severn Beach, near Bristol.
The Met Office warned that heavy rain and strong winds would continue to batter parts of southern England, western Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland over the next few days.
Officials issued six separate yellow weather warnings spanning Monday to this morning.
Winds in the South West of England, including Cornwall and parts of Devon, could reach speeds of 60 to 65mph along some stretches of the coast.
The forecaster warned that the powerful gusts had a “small chance” of causing power cuts and damaging buildings. The latest in a string of named storms this winter and spring, Kathleen caused widespread travel disruption as hundreds of flood alerts were issued and thousands of households lost power.
The Environment Agency had 100 flood warnings and 213 flood alerts in place in England on Monday evening. National Resources Wales issued 13 flood warnings and 22 alerts.
Provisional statistics from the Met Office showed that England experienced a record amount of rainfall in the 18 months to March.