The storm and tidal surges mentioned in our earlier report (North Sea Flood Threat) have now hit England, and evacuations are currently taking place along the eastern coast of the country.
Parts of the UK’s east coast have already been hit, including parts of Scotland where a driver was killed as a result of strong winds and around 130,000 homes were without power. Also earlier on Thursday the storsm struck in North Wales, England’s North West, in particular New Brighton on Merseyside.
Porth Eirias Colwyn Bay pic.twitter.com/A0R23tR6C1
— Gerallt Jones (@gerallttv) December 5, 2013
#Blackpool #stormsurge #UKstorm pic.twitter.com/sCgaJ6JlPx
— owlheartflower (@owlheartflower) December 5, 2013
On the North Sea coast, at particular risk is the coastline of north Norfolk, which includes several popular tourist villages.
Some local media reports claim that there are 9,000 homes in the Norfolk area, from Hunstanton on the north Norfolk coast, all the way along the coastline to Great Yarmouth. A further 1,000 homes on the Suffolk and Essex coastline are also being evacuated.
The Environment Agency (EA) is working alongside local authorities to ensure people understand the risks involved, and that people are either well protected or evacuated. It has issued 250 flood alerts across England and Wales, including 34 severe flood warnings – the highest level.
UK’s Environment Agency has been working hard to ensure the message got out.
We've sent nearly 70,000 properties flood warnings over the last 2 days. Sign up for free flood warnings http://t.co/iDNhKv7UlF #floodaware
— Environment Agency (@EnvAgency) December 5, 2013
The tides of the evening of Thursday 5 December look to be higher than the tides that of the 2007 floods, and in some areas, possibly higher than the 1953 North Sea floods. http://floodlist.com/europe/1953-north-sea-floods
However, EA have been quick to point out that most areas are much better protected than they were in 1953 after various flood defences were built, including the Hull Tidal Barrier and the Thames Barrier.
The Hull Tidal Barrier was put into use this evening, at around 17:00 local UK time. The Thames Barrier was also in operation from the evening onwards. Closure of all 10 gates takes around 1.5 hours. This will be the 125th time the barrier has been used.
The threat of flooding from the storm and tidal surges will last around 36 hours. Meanwhile towns and cities in northern Germany and along Germany’s North Sea coast await their fate.
