Title: East coast floods 1953 : 50th anniversary : Essex
Author: Environment Agency Anglian Region
Document Type: Monograph
Abstract:
This Environment Agency booklet aims to describe the 50th anniversary of East coast floods. On 31 st January 1953 three elements were linked in a fateful combination. It was the night of a spring tide, a deep atmospheric low pressure over the North Sea had been raising water levels, and northerly gales were driving a wall of water down the coast. As it funnelled into the narrower areas of the North Sea between England and Holland, this wall of water grew higher. At its peak the surge was 2.5 metres above the high spring tide level. This was more than the defences could stand and spelled disaster. In all over 300 people died, 24,500 houses were damaged and over 30,000 people were evacuated. Outside the towns and villages, thousands of animals were drowned and great tracts of farmland were made infertile by the salt water. This was one of the worst peace-time disasters ever to strike Britain, comparable with some of the heaviest nights of the Blitz. The surge hit Essex in the late evening and a total of 103 people lost their lives in the county due to the floods.
Publisher: Environment Agency
Publication Date: 2003
Publication Place: Suffolk
Subject Keywords: Tides; Coasts; Flooding; History; Flood Management Strategy; Flood control
Geographic Keywords: Harwich; Canvey Island; Jaywick
Permalink: http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:704
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