1953 Floods Memorial

On a bitterly cold winter’s night, fifty three years ago, the worst national peacetime disaster in Britain took place. A combination of factors lead to the deaths of 307 people, 39 of them including two entire families were killed in the small area where I live. Amazingly, here, the sea didn’t breach the sea wall as it did in many other places, but the flooding came up from the estuary and marshes. People were drowned in their sleep or swept from their rooftops. The tidal surge washed pre-fab homes from their foundations and swept caravans from a holiday park away.

 

A combination of some of the fiercest gales known here, plus a Spring high tide that was 8-9 feet higher than expected, left sea defences on the east coast of England and Holland wrecked and 24,000 homes were flooded and ruined. The sea water killed virtually everything – animals, plants, people. Farmland was left unusuable for years and the government spent three years subsidising farmers whilst the land was repaired.

 

Tonight at midnight, there is a dedication service at a new memorial at Langer Road School. The children have worked with a local artist to create mosaics for a wall that surrounds a small obelisk. I shall take some pictures and put them up when I have time.

 

---

Timetable of Events

 

Saturday January 31

 

10:00 Dutch warning system issues warning of "rather high tides" – this warning apparently not coordinated with the UK.

11:30 Dunstable Met Office issues warning of "exceptionally strong winds…". No flood warning issued, however, as nationwide system not in place.

12:00 Centre of storm east of Scotland – pressure drops as low as 966 millibars, 45 below the ‘norm’ of 1009.

13:45 British Rail ferry "Princess Victoria" abandons ship east of Belfast, with the loss of 133 of its 176 passengers.

17:00 Waves over 6m high "tear at sea walls of Lincolnshire". 50 kms of defences destroyed and 41 people drowned.

18:00 Defences breached at Saltfleet, Mablethorpe and Sutton in Lincolnshire, and Wells, Salthouse and Cley in Norfolk.

18:15 High Tide at King’s Lynn 2.5m above expected level. 15 drowned.

18:20 66 drown as defences breached in Heacham and Snettisham, Norfolk.

19:27 The Hunstanton to King’s Lynn train collides with a floating bungalow.

20:00 Force 12 (hurricane) winds recorded at Felixstowe.

20:30 Residents of Sea Palling forced to take to their rooftops. 7 drowned.

21:00 Floodwater enters streets of Great Yarmouth. 10 drowned.

22:00 Lincolnshire Police issue statement: "so far no casualties and situation in hand…".

00:00 8 drowned as 2 metre wave inundates old town area of Harwich, Essex.

 

Sunday 1 February

 

00:30 Flooding at Canvey Island, Essex. 11,500 made homeless. 58 drowned.

01:00 Wall at Felixstowe, Suffolk, gives way. The sea sweeps in from the marshes. Residents take to the rooftops. 40 drowned.

01:45 Residents of Jaywick, Essex, take to their rooftops – not rescued until 31 hours later. 37 drowned.

02:00 Industrial installations on Thames estuary flooded. 3,000 people in West Ham, east London, marooned in their bedrooms.

 

---

Victims of the East Coast Floods in Felixstowe

 

Muriel Allery
Sally Jane Allery
Lucy Bridge
Julia Mary Burkitt
Norman Bushnall
Jean Mary Bushnall
Keith Norman Robert Bushnall
Brenda Jean Bushnall
Arthur Frederick Cobb
Thomas Collins
William Alfred Damant
Stella May Damant
Keith Richard Damant
Frederick Flather
Anne Flather
Janet Flather
Suzanne Flather
Annie Haseldene
Alfred Howell
Margaret Elizabeth Johnson
Warrant Officer Raymond Pettitt
Sheila Pettitt
Brian Pettitt
Gillian Ann Pettitt
Iris Evelyn Sadd
Patricia Margaret Sadd
Jack Barnard Salmon
Robin Anthony Graham Salmon
Staff-Sgt. Jack D Short, USAF
Aircraftman David Anthony Sibbett
Ronald Frank Studd
George Taylor
Mary Ann Taylor
Reginald Norman Terry
Gladys Mabel Terry
Sgt. Cyril Stanley Tidswell, RMP
Joan Tong
Angela Tong
Alison Mary Watkins