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Flood Risk & Drainage 60 years on from the North Sea Floods
The 31st January 2013 was the 60th anniversary of the 1953 flood which was one of the most devastating natural disasters ever recorded in the United Kingdom.
Flood waters hit the East Coast of England and Scotland, and the Netherlands, and Belgium. It was a combination of a high spring tide and severe European windstorm that caused a tidal surge exceeding 5.6 metres above mean sea level and overwhelmed sea defences causing extensive flooding.
In England, there were 307 reported deaths, 19 in Scotland and 28 in West Flanders, Belgium. But the worst hit region was southern province of Zeeland, in the Netherlands where 1,836 lost their lives. 230 peole lost their lives at sea, with the majority aboard the ferry, MV Princess Victoria, which was lost at sea in the North Channel east of Belfast with 133 fatalities.
The waters hitting the UK damaged over 1,600 km of coastline and caused flooding that spread over 1,000 km², forcing over 30,000 people to be evacuated.
At the time of the flood, there were no radio warnings or flood alert systems that we have today and by the time the waters hit telephone networks were badly disrupted.
The Response
After the flooding, the UK invested heavily in new coastal flood defences, and the Thames Barrier programme was started to protect central London against future surges, which officially opened on 8 May 1984. There was also investment in flood forecasting and flood warning systems along with emergency plans to deal with any future events.
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The response of the Netherlands was the Delta Works which has been described as one of the ‘seven wonders of the world’. The project was an ambitious flood defence system designed to protect the estuaries of the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt. Completed in 1998.
Flood prevention can never been guaranteed. We can reduce the risk of flooding and flood damage with preventative measures and early warning systems but we can never remove the threat entirely. The threat of coastal flooding still remains and we must ensure that we are as well prepared as we can possibly be ‘when’ the next event occurs.
Exercise Watermark
In March 2012, Exercise Watermark, examined the national response to a flood event. It tested how the collective agencies, emergency services and communities can work together and assessed areas that can be improved.
A major function of Watermark was to review our East Coast incident management in a severe surge event.
The East Coast Flood Review
The East Coast Flood Risk Review has been established to assess the Environment Agency flood incident management and to make improvements to future event responses.
It is looking at the coast from the North- East to Kent, including all the estuaries, which involves four Regions, seven Areas and the Thames Barrier.
Scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2013, the review aims to have identified improvements to the incident management of a severe east coast flood that will provide a more effective, consistent and timely response.
A key part of the East Coast review is to understand how the Environment Agency would manage a large scale severe tidal event, identifying good practise that they can share, and to
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