Suffolk: Historian remembers Flood of 1953 70 years on

Asked what 1953 means to them, people may remember Hilary and Tensing climbing Everest in May, or Queen Elizabeth’s coronation the following week.  

They are unlikely to recall the worst natural disaster to hit the British Isles in the 20th century. For that is what the east coast floods on the night of Saturday 31st January and Sunday 1st February were. More than 300 people drowned or died from exposure, 32,000 were evacuated, particularly in the worst affected counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex.  

No warnings were given to the public on the night, although there were warnings aplenty from the past, the most recent four years earlier. 

The flood swept through homes in Hunstanton. (Image: Newsquest)

The Met Office sent a Thames tide warning to Scotland Yard and to the river boards for the Ouse and in East Suffolk and Norfolk at about noon on Saturday, 14 hours before the high tide early Sunday.

Almost nothing was done.  

Significant flooding began at Spurn Head, and on the Lincolnshire coast 16 people died at Mablethorpe before the storm hit the north Norfolk coast with gathering force.

At Hunstanton and Snettisham, 65 people died.  

King’s Lynn saw the highest tidal surge, eight feet above the predicted tide and 31 feet above the dock walls - more than the height of a house.

1,800 people were evacuated from the town. There were still six hours before the flood would reach Canvey Island at 1.10am.  

At Wells, the storm threw a motor torpedo boat onto the quay.

At Blakeney, the tidal surge was more than six feet higher than expected and the villages of Salthouses and Cley extensively damaged.

At Dunwich, the sea hammered the cliffs and bones from the old churchyard were strewn on the beach.

South of Aldeburgh shingle from Orford Ness was swept on to the marshes.  

The homes of people in Southwold were damaged by the flood. (Image: Newsquest)

Homes were destroyed in Southwold. (Image: Newsquest)

More than 40 people died in Felixstowe and Harwich before the deadly storm reached Jaywick, killing another 37.

Jaywick was particularly vulnerable given how close to the sea much of the flimsy housing was. One in 20 of those living there died, the highest proportion anywhere, four-fifths of whom were over 60 and least able to escape when the wind and sea smashed through their homes.  

The sea defences had been breached in more than 1,200 places, 160,000 acres of land were inundated, 24,000 houses and more than 200 major industrial premises were flooded or damaged, and 46,000 head of livestock lost.

Underground water sources were polluted, and crops could not be grown in the flooded areas for several years because of salt.

Telephone lines in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex had been destroyed and 47,500 houses were without electricity, though often this was restored within 48 hours.  

Some 47,500 houses were left without electricity. (Image: Newsquest)

Local communities reacted heroically in the rescue phase and soon started to rebuild the sea defences. The other positive was that little looting was reported.  

Debates took place in the Commons the following week, where there was an unseemly row about whether a few empty houses had or had not been promised help with re-housing those made homeless.

The Conservative government generally relied on volunteers and relatives to take people in. Few of those flooded out had, or could afford, insurance of course.  

An inquiry under Viscount Waverley recommended an early warning system and the strengthening of sea defences.

The former was in place by the winter of 1954, a tacit acceptance by the authorities that its absence in 1953 was a failure of planning and prevention even though the committee did not apportion blame.

The sea defences were raised to withstand another flood of 1953 scale, but would not be sufficient on their own to cope with the rising sea level resulting from climate change.

Although London had not been flooded, it had been a near thing and 30 years later, the Thames barrier was opened.  

Hugh Gault is an independent writer and historian. His most recent book 1900 Liverpool Lives was published by Gretton Books.