180 flood alerts along coast as thousands are evacuated
TOWERING high above a lighthouse, a wall of seawater smashes into a harbour in a scene repeated along the East Coast yesterday.
Thousands of families living near the coast were evacuated from their homes amid fears a 9ft storm surge would bring widespread flooding.
There were warnings that gales combined with higher than usual tides would send huge waves crashing over coastal defences and into homes. As the Environment Agency warned of a ‘danger to life’, troops were drafted in to help with the evacuation and to distribute sandbags.
Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex were said to be most at risk. Up to 7,000 homes were evacuated in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Evacuations also took place in the seaside villages of Jaywick, Mistley and West Mersea in Essex, and along the Suffolk coast.
Huge waves also battered Scarborough and Whitby, in North Yorkshire, and smashed into the lighthouse at Seaham, County Durham. Last night there were 180 flood warnings in place, including 17 of severe flooding where there is a danger to life.
Mark Sitton-Kent, of the Environment Agency, said: ‘We ask anyone tempted to go to the coast for a thrill or to take pictures to stay away, you would be putting yourself in unnecessary danger. The combination of gale-force winds, high tides, dangerous waves and a coastal surge means parts of the East Coast are extremely dangerous.’
A storm surge occurs at high tide when a low pressure weather system makes the sea level rise, and high winds push the water towards the coast, making it ‘pile up’.
A surge caused widespread flooding on the East Coast in December 2013, while in 1953, 307 died when one was triggered by a storm in the North Sea.
The Environment Agency yesterday moved almost five miles of temporary barriers and 25 pumps to protect towns. Among the towns most at risk were Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, where evacuation notices were posted through doors ‘strongly advising’ people to leave and stay with family or go to one of a number of rest centres set up.
In other parts of the country emergency services dealt with accidents as snow and sleet that fell on Thursday turned to ice when temperatures plummeted overnight, bringing treacherous driving conditions. Some roads were closed and flights delayed or cancelled.
In Stoke-on-Trent, a baby girl was born in the back of a police car after her parents’ vehicle broke down in a snow storm as they were en route to the hospital. Mother and baby were doing well last night.
The bad weather is now expected to ease over the weekend. But extremely cold conditions will return on Tuesday, particularly in the South East where wintry weather will blow in from Scandinavia and the Baltics.