Norfolk & Suffolk Coast Won't Be 'Third Time Lucky' In More Floods

5 March 2014, 11:08 | Updated: 5 March 2014, 11:29

Three months on from the tidal surge, Waveney MP Peter Aldous has warned that the coastline will not survive another flood due to outdated defences.

In a debate in the House of Commons on Monday, MP Peter Aldous talked about the importance of updating Norfolk and Suffolk's flood defences.

Some of the current defences are almost 60 years old and are, according to Mr Aldous, in desperate need of repair, upgrade and replacement. It's as more floods are predicted in Norfolk and Suffolk as the climate changes.

The floods in December last year caused lots of damage to coastal towns and villages and places like Lowestoft and Cromer were hit particularly hard. Three months on, some people could still have weeks to wait until they are able to move back into their houses.

Floods in 2007 also saw the East Anglian coast take precautions and prepare for evacuations but fortunately there wasn't too much damage.

Mr Aldous pointed out that work to repair the flood defences has not been finished yet:  

"The picture of the impact of the flood particularly on infrastructure and sea defences is still not complete and it is a race against time to get open the beaches the tourism season. We need to learn lessons from the night of 5 December and consider how we can best manage flood risk, making the best possible use of the available resources, which will be limited."

He went on to say that flood defence management has been fragmented since the 1994 the National Rivers Authority was scrapped and called for one department to take overall control.

“Locally, a whole-river approach to flood management should be adopted, from source to the sea. Each catchment and each river is different, and each should be managed by local people, who invariably know best."