Shropshire firefighters help tackle flood chaos
Firefighters from across Shropshire have been in Norfolk to help deal with the worst tidal surge to hit the east coast of England in more than 60 years.
Pumps, boats and a team of highly trained personnel, including a flood management expert and a welfare officer, left the county on Thursday evening after Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service requested help from across the country.
They were sent to Gorleston Fire Station, up the coast from Great Yarmouth.
There they met officers from Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Staffordshire, Hertfordshire and Norfolk fire services where a massive emergency plan was formulated.
Group manager Shaun Baker, who is based at Shrewsbury Fire Station, was appointed one of four senior officers helping to co-ordinate the Norfolk operation.
Speaking on his return to Shropshire last night, Mr Baker said: "The predictions from the Environment Agency and local emergency services was that there was going to be the worst tidal surge in 60 years.
"We went down at 4pm on Thursday and were held initially at a holding area. We were then sent on to a fire station in Great Yarmouth and took with us boats and large volume pumping assets.
"Amongst us was both retained fire fighters and full-time firefighters.
"Without the support of our employers, Shropshire would not have been able to offer the level of support they did. The retained firefighters were able to drop everything and travel at a moment's notice.
"I helped with the planning of the possible evacuation of 9,000 people from the Great Yarmouth area.
"Fortunately we did not need to evacuate these people but we did have to carry out checks on flood defences in the area to check that they hadn't been breached and were holding firm.
"Our main worry was the high tide, which was due at 11pm on Thursday and 11am yesterday morning. However, the boat was not needed."
Mr Baker described how a change in the weather provided a turn of fortune for the thousands of households in Great Yarmouth.
"Mother Nature really helped us out. The water only needed about another inch before it would have been over the defences. We were very, very fortunate."
Thousands of people who were evacuated from their homes will be assessing the damage after finally being allowed to return to their homes yesterday.
The Environment Agency (EA) said 1,400 homes were flooded, including 300 in Boston, Lincolnshire, one of the worst affected areas. Improving weather last night saw flood waters recede in many areas, and the EA has removed more than 200 flood warnings, 106 in the Anglian area alone. Emergency services downgraded risk levels, and the majority of people evacuated from their homes have left rest centres.
Devastated residents in Hemsby, Norfolk, watched their cliff-top homes disappear into the sea as the tidal surge hit on Thursday night. A lifeboat station was also reportedly washed into the sea.
Hundreds of people were evacuated in Boston, Lincolnshire and Clacton-on-Sea in Essex. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said two women, two babies in pushchairs and a dog were rescued after being hit by a large wave at Louisa Bay in Broadstairs, Kent.
The two people who died on Thursday were lorry driver Robert Dellow, 54, from Lowestoft in Suffolk, whose vehicle overturned in West Lothian, Scotland, and an 83-year-old man who was hit by a falling tree in Retford, Nottinghamshire.
