The Storm Surge of 11 January 1978 on the East Coast of England

Importance of decadal scale variability in shoreline response: examples from soft rock cliffs, East Anglian coast, UK

“…Importantly, this blocking anticyclone diverted the low pressure system onto a south easterly track, which was accompanied by winds veering onshore from a north-easterly direction. The synoptic conditions associated with this event were similar to those reported for both the 31 January -1 February 1953 storm surge (Pye and Blott 2009) where cliffline retreat at Covehithe was over 12 m (Steers 1953) and the 11 January 1978 event where there was also significant recession at this location (Steers et al 1979). It is suggested that southeast tracking and southern North Sea events (typology of Muir Wood et 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 al.…”

Wave dissipation over macro-tidal saltmarshes: Effects of marsh edge typology and vegetation change

“…The southern North Sea is particularly susceptible to storm surges. In the last century, the severe storm surges of 1949, 1953 and 1978 raised water levels up to 1.92, 2.40 and 1.60m respectively above predicted tidal levels (STEERS et al, 1979). Numerical models predict a 50 year return period storm surge of + 2.5m for the Essex coast (FLATHER 1987).…”

Trends in reported flooding in the UK: 1884–2013

“…There have been significant upgrades to artificial defences, most notably following the 1947 Thames floods with a sustained effort to improve conveyance of rivers, and the 1953 North Sea storm surge which led to a major upgrade of flood defences on the East Coast, including the Thames Barrier and London's flood defences. Hence subsequent extreme sea level events on the East Coast had much lower impacts even if the hydraulic conditions were similar -compare the major Consequences of the 31 January/1 February 1953 event including more than 300 deaths (Steers 1953) with the 11 January 1978 event (Steers et al 1979), and the recent 5/6 December 2013 event with similar or higher water levels and much smaller Consequences. As well as defences, flood warnings have improved substantially and are now routine components of flood risk management (Horsburgh et al 2008).…”