Floods 5th December 2013, Wells, Norfolk

        Hello everyone, This month has seen possibly the worst flood along our coast. Many have lost their homes and businesses and are now in the process of trying to salvage what they have or renew as quickly and efficiently as possible. Unfortunately I am amongst those. On the evening of the flood I was astounded at the amount of water that came toward the town of Wells-next-the-Sea. Having lived through the 1978 floods, where my family and I were trying to move everything to a higher level as the waves slammed towards us, I can say that this flood was completely different. The water was calmer but deeper and came towards us with such a strength. Thank heavens for small mercies as if the wind had been behind it who knows what more destruction it could have caused. Above are a few photographs taken on the evening. On the positive side, we are a hardy bunch along the Norfolk coast and I was so reassured yesterday when I took a first drive out to see that the clean up is being done amazingly quickly. People are working hard to clear the debris. Talking to some of them and hearing how they are coping makes me proud to be from this area. Many missing beach huts at Wells and the wood left over is being cleared. The main dune acting as a sea defence has nearly all gone but the outer harbour seems to have held. At Blakeney there are large gaps through the coastal path sea defence which stretch all along that area to Cley and Salthouse leaving the fields flooded. Cromer is being cleared at an enormous pace as the Pier Theatre is open again today and from the images I saw on the internet earlier they must have been working very hard to make this happen. Not all of the boarding is replaced but I believe a walkway has been constructed down the side. Large chunks of the sea defence walls have been broken off and the beach huts either end of the beach are turned, broken or gone. I have not ventured further as I have my own to sort but my best heartfelt wishes for all those without a home and for those trying to reconstruct their livelihoods. Janice