The flooding that authorities had been warning about in Eastern Britain did not materialize. Although the tidal surge was very close to the feared maximum of three meters, the coastal flood defenses held in most areas. Only some minor flooding is reported in Great Yarmouth.
Tides looked higher than usual and provided surfers with dramatic conditions, but flood defences held in most places.
Norfolk Police reported that water did breach the flood defences in the centre of Great Yarmouth, but they said: "At this time the flooding does not present a risk to persons or property."
An Environment Agency (EA) spokesman said: "The levels are lower than we originally predicted but only by about 30cm or so.
"There's still a risk of flooding around the coast."
They got lucky. These exact conditions have caused great loss of life and property through the years.
So, I saw your post yesterday on this, and looked at the original article. I was totally fascinated by the Thames Barrier. Have you ever looked into it? I read up on it – it is not exactly an engineering marvel, but it’s awesomeness is in its simplicity. They actually have a subway running under the river to the individual pylons, for the workers and operators.
You can even see the pylons on Google Earth.
Thanks again for bringing something awesome to my attention…
For the record there is conjecture here in the UK that this was a PR stunt by the government, the media or both.
eg. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/09/nstorm309.xml
If you think about it, such conditions are rare but not unknown. We have preparations and they go into effect on a reasonably regular basis. But the government are supposed to have met in an emergency meeting at 6am.
Forgive me for being a cynic but the government’s ability to manage this particular crisis was done months ago. Their principle impact is on the preparation – ie training and resources, not on the operational management. If flooding had occurred then all the people on the ground would have been putting their training into action. There is little Brown could have done at 6am that couldn’t have been done by some bureaucrat. Ergo, the fact of him “being concerned” is the story that they wanted publicised.