LONDON: Britain is hit by the worst storm in 60 years, storm surges breaching sea walls built following the 1953 episode at many places and quickly flooding the coastal areas giving no time to the people to protect their properties. Especially England's east coast faced the brunt of the fury. In north
Wales boats were deployed to rescue the displaced by the storm surges. Two persons have been
killed. The Met office warned of further gale-force winds and coastal flooding. Thousands of people
vacated their homes as the powerful gusts battered parts of Britain. The armed forces were also called
in to stand by. In Essex, the sea wall was breached by the high tides. The situation in Norfolk coast
was alarming. School buildings are taking in a lot many of those rendered homeless. Rescue workers
carried out house-to-house searches in Blakeney in Norfolk overnight, the BBC reported. Thousands
of homes went without power supply in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England. The gusts, surges and
the floods were too quick to prepare for the aftermath. Rail services were hit all over in both England
and Scotland. Travellers were warned not to take the risk of venturing out on rail journeys anywhere.
Four people were reported dead in Europe, where the northern parts were not spared by the
gale-force storm pushed onshore by the sea bulges. Dutch airline KLM cancelled nearly 100 flights
from Schiphol and Hamburg airports.
