Jaywick – Flood of 1953

On 31st January 1953, three elements were linked in a fateful combination. It was the night of a spring tide, a deep atmospheric low pressure over the North Sea had been raising water levels and northerly gales were driving a wall of water down the coast. As it funnelled into the narrower area of the North Sea between England and Holland, this wall of water grew higher. At its peak the surge was 2.5 metres above the spring tide level. This was more than the defences could stand and spelled disaster.

In the village of Jaywick, the wave, or ‘wall of death’, was seen hurtling towards the town from inland, across the St Osyth marshes. Jaywick was completely cut off from the rest of Essex and 37 people lost their lives. The courageous PC Don Harmer immediately waded into chin-high water to reach the sea wall and crawled along it for over a mile from Jaywick to Clacton and back, in the dark and with high water on both sides, to alert Clacton Police to the catastrophe in Jaywick.

Some homes were completely submerged by flood water. In Meadow Way, Esther and James had gathered with their son and daughter to celebrate Esther’s 89th birthday on February 1. But in the night, the sea engulfed their home and all four were drowned. When police recovered their bodies on Tuesday 3 Feb, the birthday cake was untouched.