Tidal surge

Daydream believer said:
Have you been asleep for the last 60 years?
I do not know the population increase since then - I could Google it. But you only have a short drive to a few building sites to see the hundreds of hydraulic excavators & other earth moving equipment that is now available at a moments notice.
I could hire them my digger for a few bob if they are short. Might even throw in a graft for you, free, as part of the deal,-- if you know how to work one ;)
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In 1953, a large number of men and women were serving in the armed forces and could be mobilized rapidly. Yes, the population has increased, but there is no mechanism by which large numbers of people or machinery could be brought into action. All the diggers etc. round the country are owned by many businesses - how long would it take to get them into use? Negotiations with the vast number of civil engineering contractors?

It's not the overall numbers, it's the numbers who can be mobilized at short notice to carry out high risk activities, using machinery that could be regarded as disposable.
 
LittleSister said:
And, perhaps more importantly, the plans/arrangements and communication technology for responses to flooding (and other large scale) emergencies, and the warnings of impending flood risk .

A lot of the problems and fatalities in 1953 were, I read some time ago, due to shortcomings in those areas.
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I recall TV viewing a documentary on the EC 53 flooding and recall that for example the Canvey Island warnings were largley given by word of mouth following Land Line telephone calls from Police Stations to the few Persons who had a BT Land Line installed ; If I recall correctly the Policeman was travelling around on a Cycle , knocking Homes up in the darkness of that Winters Night ; Quite a dangerous feat I recon ; I recall that the SURGE came down the North Sea and gained in height due to the funnelling effect of the SURGE being squeezes between Britains East Coast and Europes West Coast ; Once Overtopped the areas behind the Sea Walls would have the added difficulty that the Extra Surge waters could not drain away adequately or indeed quickly ; Places like Felixstowe Ferry would in part have been transformed into lagoons behind the Sea Walls , the Homes being surrounded by Flood Waters which did not drain back into the River /Sea easily or quickly ; the Sea Walls at Felixstowe Ferry divide off the local Homes into those behind the Inner Sea wall like the Ferry Boat Inn , and those with only the outer Sea Wall to give protection to the Waves from the Sea like the Boatyard and Cafe area ; My recollection of the 53 EC flooding was that of a silent killer that stalked at night , taking many lives ; Horrific
 
One of my uncles lived at Blakeney in 53. Luckily his cottage was on an area of slightly higher ground just a little way inland of the quay. He was completely surrounded by water for several days and they could only get supplies by boat.
 
The Great Tide, The Story of the 1953 flood disaster in Essex, by Hilda Grieve (a senior archivist in the Essex Record Office) was published by Essex County Council in 1959. Hilda was commissioned to produce this comprehensive record of the disaster that befell the Essex coast, together with the Thames Estuary.
The chilling first-hand accounts, black and white photographs, charts, maps, the history of sea defences and the detailed accounts in this hefty tome make it the definitive record of that dreadful time.
Highly recommended, but not as bedtime reading.
 
Before the Thames Barrier was commissioned I can remember on more than one occasion seeing the river top out just a few cm short of spilling over the North Bank's parapet, near Hungerford Bridge. IIRC there was a tube station which did get flooded a few times. Can't remember which one though.

Mike
 
mikegunn said:
Before the Thames Barrier was commissioned I can remember on more than one occasion seeing the river top out just a few cm short of spilling over the North Bank's parapet, near Hungerford Bridge. IIRC there was a tube station which did get flooded a few times. Can't remember which one though.

Mike

Have a look at this...

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The Q said:
We've had northerlies for several days, that and easterlies always increases the sea level on the south east coast of the UK..
For us on the Norfolk Broads the wind direction and air pressure normally has more effect than Rain..

Low air pressure=== High water,
Northerly ===== High water,
Spring Tides==== High Water,
A Storm==== maybe high water
Get any two and we're paddling..
Get three and some may be swimming
Get all four and a lot will be swimming..
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"Normally" perhaps, but significant rainfall in the inland catchment areas makes an enormous difference to the ability of the low-lying marshes to absorb and distribute a tidal surge now the "environment' agency has so irresponsibly fcuked up our rivers and drainage systems. Combine a tidal surge with heavy rain (which is quite a likely co-occurrence) and her' cum-a biggun, bor.
 
Habebty said:
A sensible precaution bearing in mind some of the idiots out there.
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I was at Waldringfield on the night of the 2013 flood. One resident couple who had been out for the evening came home & tried, standing in a foot of seawater, to manually open their electric, wrought iron gates which were arcing with showers of sparks & flames coming from the mechanisms. I personally had to quite forcefully dissuade another from entering a flooded building with a mains voltage “wet & dry” vacuum cleaner to attempt to pump it out.
 
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