Worst storm surge in 60 years - causes, effects, preparation and responses

Last week the east coast of the UK was battered by the biggest storm surge in 60 years. There was a lot of coverage before, during and after the event and much talk of the “perfect storm” – almost literally in this case – which made for such high waves. In order to understand the cause of the surge, students should watch this clip from the BBC.

The effects were well documented and this article and excellent video clip from The Independent summarises the main points – including the role played by sea defences. There are also eye-witness accounts from residents on the Norfolk coastline. Students are frequently encouraged to analyse the impacts and classify according to whether they are economic, social and environmental; this article provides many varied effects to categorise.

UK weather: People urged to remain vigilant as high tides and strong winds continue through the night

There is also plenty of information about preparation and responses in the article. It may also be worth considering the role of social media (the various tweets from individuals and organisations such as the Met Office - which tweeted frequent information and warnings – created what could be called a “Twitter storm”, no pun intended).

Finally, if you study meteorology and/or coastal flooding, you may well cover the 1953 North Sea storm surge which killed 326 people in the UK. The events of last week and 50 years ago are interesting to compare. This Met Office website summarises the events of 1953 in an easy to digest format.

1953 east coast flood - 60 years on