The fatal force of Storm Z

Ruth Neller explains how freak weather conditions combined to cause the devastation of the Great Flood

THE 1953 flood disaster was caused by a combination of storm surge and high spring tide.

It affected large areas of the eastern seaboard of the United Kingdom and also large areas of Holland.

A low pressure weather system, nicknamed "Z"began to develop in the North Atlantic on Thursday, January 29, and worked its way up the west coast of Scotland, with gale force north-westerly winds veering northerly. Several ships were sunk and inland large areas of forest were flattened.

On the night of January 30, low "Z"rounded the top of Scotland and began moving southwards into the North Sea where, because of the confined nature of the sea and its relatively shallow depth, the pressure systemís winds created a wall of water which was pushed along the coasts on both sides of the North Sea.

The weather forecasts spoke of gales and heavy seas, but made no mention of possible flooding.

Throughout Saturday, January 31, this storm surge travelled about one and a half hours in front of a high spring tide and caused flooding almost everywhere along the coast as it travelled south.

But there was apparantly no realisation of how much worse it could get and so no warnings were passed ahead. The men on duty at the Humber Radio Station in Trusthorpe noted in their personal flood accounts they had been kept busy all shift with gale warnings and dealing with distress calls.

By the time the storm surge reached Mablethorpe, it was about six feet, six inches high and this was on top of an exceptionally high spring tide.

High tide at Mablethorpe was at 6.56pm, but water began lashing over the sea defences much earlier and people living near the front began to sweep water back under their doors and to put down cloths and newspaper to try and stop it seeping in.

High tide had effectively lasted three hours and the sea defences were not strong enough to hold back that weight of water for such a long time.

At 5.25, the local police station received a message to say the sea was breaking through at Sandilands and officers were sent to investigate.

When they reached Sandilands they found a huge breach in the sea defences had already let water in as far as the Grange and Links Hotel and, as they were unable to go any further east themselves, they began to warn people in the nearby houses of the danger until they were forced to seek refuge themselves.

Six people died at Sandilands.

At 7.10pm the sea defences opposite Mablethorpe police station on Victoria Road gave way and the town centre was flooded.

Insp C Lewis, who was on leave, alerted the drainage board and the Fire Service and made his way to Maltby le Marsh, where he set up an incident post at Whiteís Farm and phoned in the message that a complete evacutation was needed before the next high tide at 6.30am.

Those people who lived near the breaches or were outside at the time were no longer faced with a trickle of water, but with a raging torrent, as water poured through holes in the sea wall, bringing with it tons of broken concrete, demolished chalets and other sea front building sand sand.

This property was wached off its foundations, but remained in one piece.

Wrecked chalets and other buildings littered the main promenade.

Volunteers came from across the country to help flood victims in any way they could.

An isolated farm, marooned on its own island.

THE water reached its highest at around 8pm and, at 8.30pm, had visibly begun to subside as the storm and tide moved further south, still bringing destruction and death wherever it travelled.

Seven people died in Mablethorpe and another five at Trusthorpe and Sutton on Sea, as well as those at Sandilands.

Most people had no warning of the danger atall. Those caught outside were in a dire situation.

It was dark, bitingly cold, the surging water was full of debris crashing against their legs, drain covers had been forced off and they had no way of knowing what they were stepping into.

Four people from Leicester who were staying in Sutton on Sea decided to escape from a house which was flooding, but were drowned.

Ironically those who remained in the house were rescued alive.

At about 10pm, the duty officer of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries received a telephone call at his home from the Lincolnshire River Boardís deputy engineer, who had been driven back by the floods as far as Alford police station.

By midnight, the appropriate army command had 100 men, 14 boats and 40,000 sandbags on the way to Lincolnshire and DUKWs were being loaded at Davenport to go over land to Alford.

• Extracts from Ruth Nellerís article reproduced with her kind permission.

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