Danger at Palling Past
Seven people including three children, are believed to have lost their lives after the sea smashed through a gap in the dunes at Sea Palling carrying away four houses, a cafe, a general store and bakery and severely damaging the Lifeboat public-house.
The names of the dead were given as: Mrs. Doris May Fox, aged 42, of the Longshore Cafe, Stephen Wilmott, aged 13, Merle Wilmott, aged eight, (two children of Mrs. Fox's first marriage); Mr William Hamblin, aged 87, and his wife, Mrs. Isabella Hamblin (80), and Mrs. Sarah Ellen Clarke (68), widow, of Cranbury Cottages. The bodies of Mr. Hamblin, Mrs. Fox and the children, Stephen and Merle, were recovered last night. A third child of Mrs. Fox, a baby, Edwin Eric Fox, is still missing.
Last night the winds had moderated and the sea had begun to ebb. Word was then passed round that all was safe and with great relief villagers began to trickle back to the homes they had been warned to be ready to evacuate. Watch was again being maintained all night. At midnight further emergency equipment arrived by lorry at Sea Palling.
It was also stated that though the position at Bacton and Horsea Gap had caused great anxiety for over three hours, there had been no further serious inroads by the sea.
Electricity Breakdown
Strong winds and high seas were still lashing the stretch of coast between Sea Palling, Bacton and Horsey Gap late last night, however. The inhabitants have been warned to be ready to leave their homes at the first sign of any break through of the sea. Sea Palling itself was a village in complete darkness owing to the breakdown of electricity and also of deep mourning.
As the hour of high tide approached P/Sgt. F. Stevenson and a posse of constables who had established their headquarters in a shop, went in long rubber boots to Beach Road and waded through three feet of water towards the gap where the sea broke through the previous night. They ventured within 75 yards of the gap and saw the sea lapping through it strongly. The water however, was rushing round the rear of what was left of the Lifeboat Inn and away towards the marshes at Eccles. It was the first indication that the sea was not likely to burst through into the village centre and render more people homeless.
The police and officials of local authorities remained on alert for another hour until they could say for certain there would be no danger.
The gap at Sea Palling, which after a second high tide yesterday morning was 100 yards across, allowed the water to pour through the marshes to the north-west as far as Hempstead and up the road at Sea Palling as far as the post office. Besides the houses, which one witness said were "rolled over by the sea," two bungalows on the cliffs were blown down and the coastguards' lookout, a well known landmark, has completely disappeared.
The entire village was called out to save lives and goods as the angry sea poured in the gap. Men worked all night in the biting cold often up to their necks in water to save people marooned in their homes.
First news of the danger was given at about 6.45 p.m. Mr Fred Ellis warned householders in the vicinity, but they would not leave their premises. At 9 p.m., with the tide at its peak, a wall of water burst through carrying everything before it. Houses and other premises were swept up by the yellow raging sea almost before their occupants could have known what was happening.
Airmen called out
People were called from a whist drive in the village to give help but it was too late to save the houses nearest the sea or the caravans on the Golden Beach caravan site. The water just engulfed them.
Supt. W. Garner, of North Walsham, and other police officers had to fight their way through rising waters when they arrived at the village. At times they were over waist deep in water.
However, they succeeded in reaching the end of the village where they could see lights burning in the upper rooms of several houses. Conditions made rescue impossible at that stage, and after flashing torches which were answered by the marooned villagers the officers fought their way back through the water to a point where they were able to summon assistance. Other rescuers in vehicles were soon on their way.
Mrs. Fox was rescued in a boat by the men of the Stalham Fire Brigade, but soon died after being taken to the Cock Inn.
After the mornings high tide at 9am airmen from RAF station Coltishall, who were called out during the night, recovered the body of a man presumed to be Mr. Hamlin.
Another estimated 30 or 40 people are homeless. The sea has taken almost everything they possess except their lives. Some have gone to relatives or friends in the village while the remainder are accommodated at the Hemsby Holiday Camp.
At the holiday camp some of them told a reporter about their night of terror. Mr. & Mrs. J. Neave, who live in one of the Coastguard cottages with their seven children, aged between 2 weeks and 10 years, were marooned. Everyone complimented the police who helped in the rescue. After reaching dry land, the rescued people were taken to the Cock Inn where they were given a hot drink and medical attention.
Almost everyone in the village took some part in rescuing survivors. The Stalham and North Walsham fire brigades launched a boat but had to pull it along through the water because it was impossible to row with the tide and hidden debris.
On the mornings high tide, the water rushed through the gap again. A reporter stood on the edge of the gap at the height of the fury and watched. It was a terrifying sight, the mass of water thrusting its way into what were twelve hours ago homes. With a north-west wind it came rolling on in huge brown breakers which from the village looked higher than the houses. Some tore away at the cliff, starting to make another gap a few hundred yards to the south. While the gap swallowed up hundreds of tons of water at a time, it just rolled in and either up the street or over on the marshes on the north-west where it stretched as far as the eye could see round behind Eccles.
Inside the gap four houses have almost completely been destroyed. Two belonged to Mr. Feathers, one to Mr. & Mrs. A. Bryant of Norwich, and one to Mr. & Mrs. W. Hambling. The shop of H. Holmes & Sons, with a bakery attached, had only a skeleton left, although furniture and goods were strewn over fields and marshes, little remains of the Longshore Cafe where Mrs. Fox and here children were at the time of the disaster. Cars and caravans, some overturned, were surrounded by the sea. Two bungalows, belonging to Mr. R. Crosskill or Norwich and Mr. E. Fell of Derby had been blown away by the wind which still had enough force to make it difficult to stand and which raised a sand storm which made it impossible to open the eyes.
House rolled over
Mr. George Debbage, who's brother was rescued from one of the Coastguard Cottages when the water in his house was about five feet deep, watched the gap widening to about six times what it was before and recalled the time when the sea came through at Sea Palling 59 years ago. Then it only reached the Methodist Chapel. "This it ten times worse," he said. "This time the sea came over in one big wall," he said. "It was the top of the tide. The sea hit one house and it just rolled over."
At the garage, petrol was served all night so that people could get away in their cars if the sea came in any further. Patients at the Beach House Nursing Home, mostly elderly women, were evacuated to North Walsham early yesterday morning. Several boats were swept away and the rescuers had to borrow some. Mr. Jack Reade told how he had gone over to Hickling to borrow a boat which the Duke of Edinburgh had been using when he had been coot shooting.
Despite the awful example of the previous night some inhabitants of bungalows still refused to leave their homes last night.
On both sides of Sea Palling there was damage. The protecting wall appeared to have been damaged at both Horsey and Waxham and the dunes had been eaten away where the sea had washed over it but the sea had not managed to force its way through to the low land behind the dunes. At Eccles parts of the concrete wall had been slightly damages.
Members of the Snowflakes Sailing Club at Potter Heigham abandoned programme on hearing of the tragedy at Sea Palling. They formed a convoy of cars and went to help with rescue work, staying their all day.
Bungalows swept away
At Hunstanton, where salt water has entered the towns water mains, it is estimated that some 40 people are missing believed drowned, though the actual numbers are not known yet. The main railway line to Heacham is out of commission. Most of the bungalows at the rear of the mile long beach linking Hunstanton with Heacham are swept away and in many cases their occupants, mainly Americans, are feared to have gone with them. Between 80 and 100 people lived in these bungalows. As dawn broke yesterday up to 50 had been saved. What had happened to the rest no one knew but a few hours later the first bodies were washed ashore, six at Hunstanton including 3 Americans and a child, and four at Heacham. American airmen and British civilians waged an all night battle to rescue the trapped occupants of bungalows in the South Beach area. But for nearly seven hours the gale and the sea defied their efforts.
The Americans rushed a contingent of men from Sculthorpe air base 14 miles away immediately on receiving a telephone S O S from the stricken town. With them came jeeps, amphibian air-sea rescue craft, ambulances and walkie-talkie sets. Mr. O. S. Watkinson, the Council's Clerk said, "the Americans were wonderful, they had the equipment and they did not hesitate to use it. But even the finest equipment could not achieve the impossible."
Rescue craft capsizes
An amphibian crewed by British and Americans capsized just as it neared some of the bungalows. The occupants including P.S. H. Spencer and Mr. N. Quincy, a taxi driver, pulled themselves to safety to the balcony of the nearest bungalow - Mr. Quincy's, as it happened, where his wife and three children were already marooned. From there, over the telephone, P.S. Spencer kept up a running commentary to the shore on the ever-changing state of the situation.
At Snettisham where twenty people were unaccounted for at 10am. On Sunday bodies began to come ashore shortly afterwards. All night police and civilians had battled to rescue bungalow dwellers in the low-lying area behind the beach. Two people were rescued shivering and exhausted from a roof. Others, including children and a baby in a carrycot, from the cabin of a dragline in which they had shut themselves for safety.
Mr. J. E. A. Lambert, who took part in several rescue attempts said, "the water was a good two miles inland." As the morning wore on a hurried conference of councillors and officials was followed by a series of telephone calls to neighbouring towns for water tankers. Salt water had entered the towns mains and rendered them unusable. A call was also put through to the Cambridge Ministry of Housing and Local Government. Mr Watkinson said, "we must have national assistance. The situation is beyond our own resources."
Drinking water ration
A request to Norfolk Fire Service in the middle of the morning to provide Hunstanton with twenty 500-gallon drums of drinking water proved, as one officer put it, to be " a real headache." Soon after 2pm, however, it was stated at Fire Service headquarters that a dozen water tenders had been mobilized, including one from Cambridge and one from Norwich, to take water from the Docking R.D.C. mains.
By early afternoon water tankers were beginning to arrive at Hunstanton. Today the council begins a deliver service of drinking water. The ration is expected to be one gallon per household daily. A team of Ministry experts will arrive to survey the situation.
Headquarters of Eastern Command stated last night, "demands for four million sandbags have been made during the day and 50,000 have been issued already. It is hoped to supply the balance tomorrow. One of the first demands came from British Railways and 40,000 sandbags were quickly despatched to a point on the railway between Norwich and Lowestoft, where a breach in the line was reported."