The Bungalow and the Steam Train

Train drivers are unfortunately used to seeing hazards on the line – timber, random objects thrown by children, the odd sheep or cow, and tragically, the occasional human. But nothing could have prepared the driver of the 19:27 train that left Hunstanton for King’s Lynn on the evening of January 31, 1953, for what he was about to encounter.

Forty bungalows and beach huts between Snettisham and Hunstanton were in the process of being damaged or destroyed. Some of them were being torn from their positions and deposited varying distances inland from the beach. Many of them were occupied by USAF personnel and families, and 65 people drowned. Hunstanton Town Hall was turned into a morgue.

The King’s Lynn train not only collided with a wall of water a short distance from the station, but one of the floating bungalows struck the engine and put it out of action. It was fortunate that the train was stopped, as further on, the tracks had been washed away.

For six hours the crew struggled to repair the engine, and using floorboards taken from the tender as fuel, they eventually got sufficient steam to return the train to Hunstanton.

The Extent of the Disaster

On January 31, 1953, the waters of the North Sea smashed through sea defences in over 1,200 places from Spurn Head to Kent, scattering thousands of tons of stone and concrete.

37 people lost their lives
32,000 had to be evacuated
24,000 houses were flooded, some beyond repair
12 gasworks and many power stations were flooded
Underground water resources were contaminated with salt
11 trunk roads became impassable
200 miles of railway track were put out of action
163,000 acres of productive agricultural land were contaminated, with it taking up to four years to return to normal production
46,000 head of livestock (cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, poultry) destroyed

The Causes of the Disaster

Storm surges occur when water levels rise significantly above predicted tides due to extreme weather. These events are driven by a combination of factors:

Strong winds: Winds push seawater toward the coast, creating what is known as “wind-drift.”
Low atmospheric pressure: This can cause the sea level to rise slightly—about 0.3 meters for every 34 millibars of pressure drop.
Tidal patterns: When storm surges coincide with high spring tides, the effects are amplified.

Storm surges are particularly dangerous when they occur during the full or new moon phases, as tides are at their highest during these times. Northerly or north-westerly winds in the North Sea further exacerbate the situation, pushing water southward and piling it up along the narrowing coastline.

On the night of January 31, 1953, a “perfect storm” struck. A powerful European windstorm combined with a high spring tide and low atmospheric pressure to create a massive storm surge. This surge raced down the North Sea. The worst damage occurred as the surge funnelled into narrower areas like the Thames Estuary and The Wash, amplifying its height. The vast expanse of shallow water in the funnel of the Wash made King’s Lynn and the east coast of the Wash particularly vulnerable (up to 3.0 meters higher than usual).

Several factors made the 1953 flood particularly destructive:

Timing: The surge coincided with a high spring tide during the full moon.
Wind Direction: Strong north-westerly winds funnelled water southward into vulnerable areas.
Limited Defences: Coastal defences at the time were insufficient to handle such an extreme event.
Inadequate Warning Systems: Communication failures between weather and tidal authorities meant many people were caught off guard.

The King’s Lynn Damage

The tidal embankments of the Great Ouse on the 14-mile stretch between King’s Lynn and Denver sluice did little better than the coastal defences, with over eight breaches occurring. In King’s Lynn, there were seven breaches. In South Lynn hundreds of pigs were drowned, but one escaped when it was swept through a window. The spilling over of the right bank of the Great Ouse and the left bank of the Nar was so sudden that a number of people were trapped in their houses, and 15 (nearly half the total loss of life for the whole country) were drowned. One fifth of the town was flooded.

The town centre and waterfront areas bore the brunt of the disaster, with significant damage to residential properties, businesses, and infrastructure. Around 1,800 residents were forced to evacuate their homes, with around 500 properties damaged or destroyed.

King’s Lynn Signposts
*Photo © James Rye 20*19

In King’s Lynn Minster (St. Margaret’s Church), water levels inside this historic church rose to over 1 meter.

In the Quays and Town Centre, the River Great Ouse overflowed onto the quays and the historical quarter (Nelson Street, Purfleet, Queen Street, King Street), also inundating the docks, warehouses, and shops. Streets in the town centre were submerged for weeks.

In West Lynn, factory premises were flooded, and part of the area lay 1.5 meters underwater for two weeks.

Matters were made worse in King’s Lynn as there seems to have been considerable alarm unnecessarily generated. Police cars equipped with loudspeakers urged all residents to sandbag their houses against dangers (which were largely mythical). It was rumoured that the Denver sluice had blown up, exposing the entire southern Fenland to dangerous flooding; that all the Ouse banks were crumbling; and that the entire town was in danger.

Despite the chaos, remarkable acts of heroism emerged. Lieutenant Jones led evacuation efforts in Diamond Street under extreme conditions, rescuing elderly and invalid residents from floodwaters over one meter deep. The military played a crucial role in rescue operations as part of one of Britain’s largest peacetime mobilisations. At its peak on February 12, 1953, over 30,000 emergency workers were involved across affected areas.

The disaster prompted long-term changes in flood management across the UK. Improved warning systems and stronger coastal defences were developed in response to lessons learned from 1953. For King’s Lynn specifically, modern flood gates now protect vulnerable areas like the quays.

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Sources

BBC (1923) BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-64469900
BBC (1923) Great North Sea flood of 1953 remembered 70 years on – BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-64414388
Gault, H. MORE (1923) THAN 300 DEAD IN EAST COAST FLOODS 70 YEARS AGO https://grettonbooks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/1953-east-coast-floods-310123.pdf
Goulden, G. (2022) East Anglian Disasters, Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Summers, D. (1978) The East Coast Floods, David & Charles
Wikipedia North Sea flood of 1953 – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_flood_of_1953

The Bungalow and the Steam Train – 1953 Flood