The Flood of 1953
Great Tides up to 1953
Eastern Essex is a low lying
area with water on three sides by virtue of the North Sea to the
East , River Blackwater to the north and the River Crouch to the
South.
As such it has always been
liable to flood despite the efforts of man to protect the land form
the middle ages onwards.
Since 1800 there have been
regular flooding affecting the sea marsh areas but flooding through
the sea wall has been a comparatively rare occurrence.
Particularly bad floods
occurred in 1897 where it was described as the highest tide ever
known with the High street underwater and dinghies ferrying people
away from their houses to higher ground.
Following this flood the sea
walls were all raised by 18" with vulnerable points raised even
higher.
The next big tide came in 1928
when Bridgemarsh Island was completely covered by water and although
the tide was 7" higher than recorded in 1897 by and large the sea
wall held.
10 years later in 1938 came
another great tide which caused flooding in the country but with
isolated problems again the sea wall held firm for our area of
Eastern Essex.
1949 saw the next big
challenge with more flooding throughout Essex but again this area
escaped virtually unscathed. This flood came at a time when
servicemen were able to provide assistance to help shore up the sea
walls to an even higher standard.
Friday 30 January 1953
The lead up
A large area of low pressure
covers the North Sea from Scotland to Denmark which means that sea
levels are higher than normal whilst at the same time there are
strong winds from the north west pushing the water towards the east
coast of England
Then an area of high pressure
developed to the north which effectively pushed even more water
towards the East Coast.
The period also coincided with
a high spring tide on the coast.
This rare double event
produced a large area of high waves which swept along the east coast
and then across the North Sea to hit Holland.
The weather forecasters were
able to predict a very high tide and alerted the authorities
although they were unable to predict just how high the tide would
be.
Some preparation was begun but
by and large life carried on as normal with the vast majority of the
population unaware of the threat that they faced.
Graphic
courtesy of the Environment Agency
The flood
During the late afternoon East
Coast resorts in Yorkshire were reporting very high tides with
levels continuing to grow bringing flooding to Lincolnshire.
By the time the tide reached
Skegness it was 7 feet higher than normal.
The BBC radio news at 6pm
carried a story about the high tides in Scotland but made no mention
of any threat to England. On the 9pm news the story included heavy
seas in Yorkshire but again no mention of a threat to the coast.
As a result most people in low
lying areas went to bed as normal
The tide continued to grow as
it progressed through Norfolk and Suffolk arriving in Essex at about
10pm with immediate flooding of the Bathgate area of Harwich.
At about 11.30 the wall of
water arrived on Dengie peninsula flooding Steeple Marshes and
turning St Lawrence Village into an island
A patrolling Policeman was at
the Quay area and was able to evacuate residents of low lying
cottages to the Green Man Public House that marked the upper limit
of the flood at Bradwell.
The sea flooded the entire low
lying area of the Blackwater estuary drowning cattle and sheep as
well as sweeping away moored boats and even holiday caravans as well
as invading farms buildings, cottages etc.
20 minutes later low lying
land near the River Crouch suffered a similar fate
By midnight the sea walls were
beginning to suffer from the constant pressure and a large section
of the wall at Bradwell was breached.
Once a breach was established
the adjoining sea wall was quickly eroded providing large sections
of breaches.
This process was repeated at
several locations on the sea wall of the North Sea and the River
Crouch leading to vast amounts of sea water flooding over the
valuable arable land.
By now the low lying old town
area of Burnham on Crouch was flooded with up to three feet of
water covering the area from the Quay to High Street and beyond.
By 2 am at last the tide
seemed to turn - nearly an hour late and the risk of further
flooding reduced for a few hours leaving the emergency services to
cope with the existing water that was unable to flow back into the
sea.
The aftermath
Essex Fire Brigade worked
through the night and following day pumping water from flooded
houses.
Burnham Urban District Council
led groups of residents in filling sandbags and building defensive
walls against the return of the tide.
When the sand ran out the
resourceful residents used the black waste that lined the floor of
Burnham Foundry to fill more sandbags.
The problem for relief in most
of the area was that the tide had struck the whole coastline of
Essex to devastating effect and the available support services were
stretched to breaking point.
The flooding also had a
negative effect on public services such as electricity causing power
cuts in affected areas.
At 4pm the tide came back but
although at higher levels than normal and some more water poured
though breaches the sandbagged areas at Burnham survived and there
were no more reports of problems in the remaining areas.
By the late afternoon the
scale of the devastating flooding at nearby Foulness became clear
and Burnham was designated as a relief point and 96 shocked
residents of Foulness were evacuated to Burnham by boat where they
were provided with food, clothing and accommodation.
In Eastern Essex most people
were able to return to their homes after the flood but 24 people
remained homeless.
Once the water receded arable
farmers were faced with the problem of fertile land damaged by the
sea water, livestock farms were in many cases devastated and in the
flooded areas wildlife has been virtually wiped out.
Despite treatment by gypsum
and other deposits it was five years before crops could again be
grown on the affected arable land.
Over the next few years
contractors and troops thronged the area with the task of providing
an adequate sea wall to deal with the next threat and each
generation has further refined the defences against the sea.
Big tides still occur at
regular intervals although the sea walls have yet to be tested
against a tide of the magnitude of 1953.
More Information required?
There are many books on the
flood but by far the best is the Great Tide by Hilda Grieve
