SEA THREATENS VILLAGES

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24798, 12 February 1946, Page 5

SEA THREATENS VILLAGES

Encroachment During Gales

ONE HOUSE YARD FROM CLIFF (NJS. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8.30 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 11. Four Norfolk villages are in “imminent danger of falling into the sea,” says Mr S. W. Mobbs, chief engineer of the East Norfolk River Catchment Board. They are Caister, Walcott, Mundesley, and Overstrand. The whole of this stretch of coast crumbled during the gales in the last few days. One Caister family is living in a house only three feet from the cliff edge, and at Walcott the coast road has fallen into the sea. A special watch is being kept by local people with knowledge of winds and tides. Waters were subsiding last night in most flooded areas in Britain, leaving families struggling to cleanse their homes and make them habitable again. Floods in some areas, though past the peak, are still high. The town councillors of Northwich, Cheshire, one of the worst hit towns, at an emergency meeting, described the damage as “the greatest disaster the town has ever suffered.” Tradesmen’s losses are estimated at £lOO,OOO. Many towns will be without gas because the floods immersed boilers and fires at the gasworks. Mud and debris choke the thoroughfares in many centres.