North Sea flood of 1953

Question

Hi there

Just wondering whether something has been setup for this event. Just connected the Irish Politician and WWI veteran Walter Dorling Smiles who was one of the casualties of the storm

 

Answer 1

Did a bit of research. It is mentionned in this free-space page:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Flooding_Disasters

which is itself in the worldwide disasters project, which you can join if you are interested in disasters.

 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Project:Worldwide_Disasters

If you were in search of a sticker to put on his profile to show he died in a flood. I would put the following but you can change it to something you prefer. The link below will help you understand the template for the sticker.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Worldwide_Disasters_Sticker

{{Worldwide Disasters Sticker

|text=Died in the North Sea flood

|date=1953-01-31

|flag=UK_Flags-34.png

}}

Edit I added the sticker for you, if you wanted another flag these links will help you:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:European_Flag_Images

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:UK_Flag_Images

Answer 2

I remember it well. I lived on the East coast of Norfolk at the time.

Sorry, not really relevant.

Comments

Memories are always relevant here.

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OK. I realise that his ship sank in the North Channel in the same storm, but I thought the real storm and surge was all in the North Sea.

Answer 3

My aunt wrote a short account of her experience in the '53 floods I have it in her images entitled 'Mary Gage's account of her experience the night of the Jaywick flood', the paper called it 'Rescued through the roof', it might be of interest. You can see it on the last page of images on her profile  www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hall-13669

(sorry the 1 was left off the profile reference in error it should connect to the right person now)

Comments

I remember it too, although I was very young at the time.  I lived in Gravesend, Kent and much of the lower areas were flooded with people loosing their homes.  But most of all I remember the Queen coming to inspect the damaged areas and everyone crowding to see her as she passed by.

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I didn't actually see the floods but remember everyone talking about them, quite apart from my aunt's experience. We lived in Norwich and I remember my mum saying she was glad we weren't any nearer to the sea.  I also  remember her showing me a picture of the Queen visiting the worst hit areas, it was in the Evening News, the local paper.

My aunt said it was a strange experience because the water wasn't coming from the direction of the sea but from the other end of the road because it had come around the end of the sea wall down another road and back up her road towards the sea.

Answer 4

I was just five years old in 1953, and our family had just moved house to the cliff top in Southend-on-Sea, Essex England, so although we just missed being flooded in this event, it does form some of my earliest memories, as we were without electricity, and a very low gas supply and I was a little person in a strange new house! A friend of my parents was on nearby Canvey Island however, and spent the night walking round the seawall in pitch darkness  knee deep in water to safety.

Answer 5

I found several relatives who died during "De Ramp" (the Disaster) as we call it in the Netherlands. I hadn't known about them before I found them in the records and it really makes me sad to think about it and see their pictures. All my family on my mother's side is from Zeeland.

So far I found:

My grandfather's sister Cornelia Capelle and her husband and 15-year old son.

My grandmother's uncle Dirk Balkenende and his wife and 12-year old daughter.

My grandmother's first cousin with her husband and baby.

And a first cousin of my grandmother's mother, a 76-year old man.

Their profiles are all in https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:North_Sea_Flood_of_1953.

Answer 6

I am born in 1952 and lived that time in Vlissingen, Zeeland. What I know is wath my parents told and my oldest brother.

The water rose trough the wells of the sewer system told my brother who saw that. He was 14 at that time and cycled to  acquaintances whether we come to them. They lived in a higher area two kilometers away. My mother and sister of 7,  with me in a pram, walked over there in the heavy storm. In the meantime, my father and grandfather moved the furniture to the attic in the hope the water would not rise that high. Fortunately there were no casualties in our family because they warned at time to evacuate.