1953 East Coast Flood Lesson

50 years ago this week, the North Norfolk coast was hit by one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the area.

Memorial in Snettisham village - unveiled by Duke of Edinburgh on the 50th Anniversary of the floods. Picture by Mrs. P

Start with 5" video clip from the Donal McIntyre 'Wild Weather' series: WET which shows the area and a US airman who saved over 20 people that night. Reis Leming waded through freezing water in the darkness.

Also have a 30" video 'Flood!' shown on ITV on Sunday the 19th of January 2003. This featured an interview with coastal expert David Robinson, and Ken Dearden, who took photographs in the Hunstanton area the following morning, and several other programmes and Anglian News segments which were shown in the week leading up to the anniversary.

Hand out sheet showing the a map of the area affected by the floods. This was produced in an EDP supplement, and is also in several textbooks.

Year 7 pupils will be able to bring in their free OS 1: 25 000 maps - courtesy of the Free Maps for Schools initiative of the Norfolk Coast, so they can see some of the places that are described in the facsimile edition of the EDP.

The floods occurred on the evening of the 31st of January 1953, and continued through into the early part of the 1st of February. People had no warning that the flooding was going to happen. They were just going about their normal Saturday business. The darkness fell early due to the time of year, and many people didn't appreciate what was happening, as was obvious from the many eyewitness accounts.

Look at the map of the area. Describe the area that was affected by the floods. Name 3 local settlements that were affected by the flooding. Why did the flooding extend further inland at certain points on the map.

Sea Palling, Hunstanton, Sutton on Sea, Dersingham, Great Yarmouth, Snettisham, King's Lynn, Canvey Island

Watch the section of the 'Flood' Video which shows Sutton on Sea and Hunstanton. Choose one or more of the people who are interviewed and suggest how they were affected.

Think about how you would feel if you were in the same situation as Reis Leming ?

Remember that the night was dark, and it was blowing a gale. The waves are being driven onto the shore, and the water was very cold. Reis spent 4 hours paddling with a rubber dinghy and rescued over 25 people before succumbing to the cold. The Wild Weather video describes how a nurse saw the state of his wetsuit with its torn legs and said "these legs will have to come off" and Reis thought he meant his actual legs for one terrible moment, because they had gone numb with the cold water he had been wading through for hours.

Look at the page of images taken from newspapers printed the day after the event.

What help did the people need for days after the event ? Who provided the assistance ?

Imagine being let into your house after the flood water has subsided. Make a list of jobs that would need to be done in order to make the house habitable.

There have been any number of TV programmes in the week running up to the anniversary of the floods. There was an excellent programme called THE LONGEST NIGHT which featured Reis Leming again being reunited with a woman whose family he saved. There is an excellent site at the BBC NORFOLK site.

The BBC SUFFOLK site is the best one for those of you who want to have an Internet based lesson. There are plenty of links to materials. All the local BBC county sites from LINCOLNSHIRE down to ESSEX have special pages.

The Lynn News of 31st January 2003 had the first of 2 flood supplements called 'Tides of Terror' - these look at the 1953 and 1978 floods respectively. These would be useful resources too.

Graham and his family own a caravan on the seafront at Heacham ?

On the 31st of January, a low pressure system was situated over the North Sea, off the east coast of Britain

The low pressure system caused a storm surge: raising the level of the sea.

Graham is a reserve fireman with first aid training.

People had not been warned that the flood was on the way. The forecast methods weren't as accurate as today's.

The sea defence at Heacham was not able to cope with the

Behind the sea defences at Heacham are hundreds of caravans and chalets. Some of them were occupied by people.

There was no TV / radio news to give people up to date information on what was happening.

The water supply in Hunstanton was contaminated and water had to be brought in to the town.

Many people were asleep at the time.

Flood waters overtopped the sea defences.

A 12' wave of water swept through some of the coastal areas.

Graham's wife is a very good cook: particularly her black pudding.

This is a very useful site, and will hopefully be left up after the anniversary of the floods has come and gone.

Many thanks to the visitor who spotted the 'deliberate mistake' in the mystery above...

FACTS AND FIGURES

Power stations, gasworks, sewage works and water supplies were disrupted. Saltwater contaminated the water supply in Hunstanton.

100 miles of the road network was temporarily impassable, and 200 miles of railway network was out of action

Over 150 000 acres of farmland were inundated, and were not usable for several years