Davenant 1953 storm surge info
The 1953 flood is the most recent large coastal flood in
Europe. The storm surge hit The Netherlands, the east
coast of England, Belgium and Germany. Over 2.100
people died, of which more than 1.800 in The
Netherlands.
The 1953 storm surge.
Source: Environment Agency
It happened in the night or early morning, February 1st,
1953. A northwestern storm was blowing and it was to
be spring tide. At low tide the water level at sea was as
high as it is normally when it is high tide. Then the wind
pushed the water up to rise even higher and the sea
reached a record height of 4,5 meter above mean sea
level. In The Netherlands the dikes were breached at
many places in the provinces along the southwestern
coast. Sea water covered large areas. Near the breaches
houses were destroyed by the force of the water rushing
in. Many people were caught unawares, there was no
warning system and people were sleeping. In the end
there were 1.800 victims. About 72.000 people had to be
evacuated. Roads were destroyed and telephone lines
were down. In large areas relief could only be brought
by boat. Many cattle died, crops failed, buildings were
ruined.
The east coast of England was also hit by this flood.
According to the British Environment Agency 300
people died, about 24.000 houses were destroyed and
40.000 people evacuated. The map by the Environment
Agency shows the water level in the 1953 storm surge
compared to what the tide would have been without the
storm.
In Belgium several dikes breached too. The Ostend and
Antwerp area flooded. Nearly 40 people died.
Protective measures were started after this flood. In
Britain for instance the Thames barrier was built and in
The Netherlands the Delta Works were developed: a
system of dikes and storm surge barriers to protect low
lying areas against flooding.
What is a storm surge?
A storm surge is possibly one of the most dramatic weather events for the
east coast. These are caused when deep depressions track east from the
Atlantic, passing close to the north of Scotland. As the depressions move
across the ocean the lower pressure causes the sea level to rise - for each
1 hPa drop in pressure sea levels rise by up to 1 cm - and the winds push
the surface waters of the sea forward, a motion known as 'wind drift'.
On reaching the relatively shallow North Sea this water is forced
southwards, eventually causing a pile up of water in the south. This is
because the water cannot escape through the narrow Dover Strait and the
English Channel and so gets trapped in the southern North Sea. The effect
is enhanced by the strong northerly winds experienced on the rear flank
of the depression as it continues eastwards.
What's changed?
As a result of the east coast floods an official service for forecasting
coastal flooding - the Storm Tides Warning Service - was established
within the Met Office. This is now provided through the joint Environment
Agency and Met Office partnership in the Flood Forecasting Centre, which
benefits from continuously improved forecasting accuracy through the
pull-through of science and technology in observations and the modelling
of our weather in the Met Office.
Sixty years on, the Met Office can forecast the development and
movement of this type of Atlantic storm accurately up to five days ahead.
Our high resolution atmospheric forecast models coupled to ocean models
provide valuable early warning of potential storm surges up to five days
ahead and detailed, accurate guidance on the height of the surge and
wave overtopping up to two days ahead.
Saving lives and property
The value of the Storm Tides Warning Service was demonstrated in
November 2007 when, forecast strong winds combined with high tides
indicated that, on the 9 November, some Eastern coastal areas could face
their biggest storm surge for more than 50 years. From five days ahead
the Met Office worked closely with the Environment Agency, the Cabinet
Office, and emergency services to ensure emergency planning procedures
were in place. On 9 November the actual recorded sea levels came to just
10 cm below the top of most of the sea walls in and around Great
Yarmouth, within, according to the Environment Agency a 'hair's breadth'
of breaching them.
Working together the Met Office and the Environment Agency are now in a
better place than ever before to help keep people and property safe. The
Met Office National Severe Weather Warning Service and the Environment
Agency Flood Warning Service are both in place to help people plan,
prepare, and protect themselves ahead of and during severe weather and
flooding.
Met Office looks to development of ten year climate forecasts to
strengthen UK contingency planning.
On the day that marks 25 years since the Thames Barrier was first raised
to protect London from possible flooding, experts from the Met Office say
that the next quarter century could see greater frequency of extreme
weather events along with more torrential rain, particularly during winter
months.
The Barrier offers London unparalleled protection against North Sea tidal
surges as well as holding back high tides when the river is swollen by
heavy rainfall upstream. And the Met Office is currently providing advice
to the
Environment Agency on the possible impact of climate
change in the south-east as it considers options for flood risk
management in the Thames Estuary up to the year 2100.
Climate scientists at the Met Office Hadley Centre have been the first in
the world to develop ten year climate forecasts, which it will use alongside
the 50 or 100 year time frame projections currently deployed worldwide.
Such decadal forecasts would offer predictions of more direct, practical
relevance to organisations where adaptation to global warming is a key
operational concern.
The surge of 1953
More than 2,000 people drowned at the end of January 1953 when
the greatest surge on record, happened in the North Sea. The surge
measured nearly three metres in Norfolk and even more in the
Netherlands. About 160,000 hectares of eastern England were
flooded and 307 people died. A further 200,000 hectares were
flooded in the Netherlands, and 1,800 people drowned.
The storm that caused this disastrous surge was among the worst
the UK had experienced.
• Hurricane force winds blew down more trees in Scotland than
were normally felled in a year.
• A car ferry, the Princess Victoria, sank with the loss of 133 lives but 41 of the passengers and crew survived.
• From Yorkshire to the Thames Estuary, coastal defences were
pounded by the sea and gave way under the onslaught.
As darkness fell on 31 January, coastal areas of Lincolnshire bore
the brunt of the storm.
• Sand was scoured from beaches and sand hills
• Timber-piled dunes were breached
• Concrete sea walls crumbled
• The promenades of Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea were
wrecked.
• Salt water from the North Sea flooded agricultural land
Later that evening, embankments around The Wash were
overtopped and people drowned in northern Norfolk. At Wells-nextthe-Sea, a 160-ton vessel was left washed up on the quay after
waves pounded it ashore.
In 1953, because many telephone lines in Lincolnshire and Norfolk
were brought down by the wind, virtually no warnings of the
storm's severity were passed to counties farther south until it was
too late. Suffolk and Essex suffered most.
By midnight, Felixstowe, Harwich and Maldon had been flooded,
with much loss of life. Soon after midnight, the sea walls on Canvey
Island collapsed and 58 people died. At Jaywick in Clacton, the sea
rose a metre in 15 minutes and 35 people drowned.
The surge travelled on. From Tilbury to London's docklands, oil
refineries, factories, cement works, gasworks and electricity
generating stations were flooded and brought to a standstill.
In London's East End, 100 metres of sea wall collapsed, causing
more than 1,000 houses to be inundated and 640,000 cubic metres
of Thames water to flow into the streets of West Ham. The BP oil
refinery on the Isle of Grain was flooded, and so was the Naval
Dockyard at Sheerness.
Download the weather summary for 31 January 1953 (PDF, 98 kB)
1953 east coast flood - 60 years on
In pictures
Aerial photo of flooded houses in 1953.
Photo of a flooded road in 1953.
Storm tide warnings
The disastrous surge of 1953 was predicted successfully by the Met
Office and the Dutch Surge Warning Service. Forecasts of
dangerously high water levels were issued several hours before
they happened. An inquiry into the disaster recommended,
however, that a flood warning organisation should be set up. This
led to the setting up of the Storm Tide Warning Service.
What happened to cause this storm?
In the early hours of 30 January 1953, the storm that was to cause
the havoc was a normal looking depression with a central pressure
of 996 mb, located a little to the south of Iceland. While it looked
normal, during the day the pressure rapidly deepened and headed
eastwards.
By 6 p.m. on 30 January, it was near the Faeroes, its central
pressure 980 mb. By 12p.m. (midday) on 31 January, it was
centred over the North Sea between Aberdeenshire and southern
Norway and its central pressure was 968 mb.
Meanwhile, a strong ridge of high pressure had built up over the
Atlantic Ocean south of Iceland, the pressure within being more
than 1030 mb. In the steep pressure gradient that now existed on
the western flanks of the depression, there was a very strong flow
from a northerly point. Winds of Force 10 were reported from
exposed parts of Scotland and northern England. The depression
turned south-east and deepened to 966 mb before filling. By
midday on 1 February, it lay over northern Germany, its central
pressure 984 mb.
All day on 31 January, Force 10/11 winds blew from the north over
western parts of the North Sea. They drove water south, and
generated waves more than eight metres high. The surge originated
in the waters off the north-east coast of Scotland and was amplified
as it travelled first southwards along the eastern coasts of Scotland
and England, and then north-east along the coast of the
Netherlands. It reached Ijmuiden in the Netherlands around 4 a.m.
on 1 February.
Weather Chart
East coast floods of 1953
Enlarge and Play
Surges still causing damage
Since 1953, there have been other large surges in the North Sea.
Among them one, on 12 January 1978, caused extensive flooding
and damage along the east coast of England from Humberside to
Kent. London came close to disaster, escaping flooding by only 0.5
m, and the enormous steel and rubber floodgates designed to
protect the major London docks were closed for the first time since
their completion in 1972.
Flood defences
Concern over rising sea levels, and the potential catastrophe if
London were to be flooded, led the Government to build the Thames
Flood Barrier. Based at Woolwich and finished in 1982, it is the
world's second largest movable flood barrier. It is designed to allow
ships to pass in normal times, but flood gates come down to stop
storm surges in times of need. The barriers are closed about four
times a year, on average.
Over the years, coastal defences in the Netherlands and eastern
England have been raised and strengthened continually to protect
against storm surges. Our coasts and estuaries are safer now than
they have ever been. Nevertheless, surges remain a threat, as
complete protection against the most extreme can never be
guaranteed.
The likelihood of being taken by surprise is now lower, because
weather and surge forecasting systems have improved greatly in
recent years, and the Storm Tide Forecasting Service has
established clear and effective procedures for alerting the
authorities when danger threatens.