The almost forgotten flood ......... on the wireless

Now I say almost forgotten but for many it will still be a vivid reminder of just what the North Sea can do especially for those who lived through it..

Constructing the Barrier, circa 1979

And its legacy is still there from the Thames Barrier to the book which documented the disaster.*

I knew of the flood but it was brought back to me by listening to Learning From the Great Tide, Radio 4 this week.

"On the night of 31st January 1953, the combination of a high spring tide and a storm over the North Sea caused a devastating surge of water to sweep across the East Coast and up the Thames Estuary.

It was one of Britain's worst natural disasters in the 20th century - 307 people lost their lives in England and over 1,800 in the Netherlands - and yet it has largely been forgotten in the UK.

It also inspired one of the great works of English social history, The Great Tide by Hilda Grieve, which tells the story of the flood in Essex, and the extraordinary response of its local communities and emergency services.

Down on the Thames, circa 1979

To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the flood, BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt asks what lessons were learned. We’re better protected now as a result of the disaster but, as our coastal defences begin to age and sea levels continue to rise due to climate change, are we prepared for the next tide?

Features archive from "Essex Floods" from Essex Sound and Video Archive.

Producer: Patrick Bernard

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4."

*The Great Tide by Hilda Grieve, 1953

**Learning From the Great Tide, Radio 4, BBC Radio, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hp11