Floods Recovery Minister John Healey and East of England Minister Barbara Follett visited Great Yarmouth today to meet local people evacuated from their homes last night as a precaution ahead of the expected flooding.

This serious threat was caused by the highest tide for more than 50 years. In the event, surge levels were nearly 20cm lower than originally feared and people have now been told they can return to their homes.

Ministers met residents evacuated from Wherry Way Sheltered Accommodation in Great Yarmouth, some of the 7000 homes evacuated in the area. They went on to meet some of the residents from 700 homes evacuated in Lowesoft in Suffolk.

Floods Recovery Minister John Healey said;

"It’s very reassuring to see that all the emergency services and agencies have been able to provide such effective support to the communities affected by this flood alert. They pulled out all the stops overnight and worked well together to ensure high volume pumps were sent to areas of particular risk in Great Yarmouth, a large electrical sub station and an operation centre set up to help the local community.

"Thankfully, the surge has not been as high as anticipated and people are now returning to their homes. This is of extreme relief to us and the people of Great Yarmouth – other areas such as the Kent coast should remain vigilant and we remain ready to deal with any further expected incidents. As the Prime Minister has said today, national Government stands ready to help local communities with any difficulties that arise."

East of England Minister Barbara Follett said:

"Things look a great deal better than I thought they would and I am very relieved. I'm also very pleased with the swift reaction of local authorities and emergency services and the community spirit displayed by the people of East Anglia."

This is the biggest ever precautionary operation carried out by the Fire and Rescue Service to protect against expected flooding.

Overnight, temporary barriers were set up in Worcester sub station and fourteen Government funded high volume pumps were sent to the East coast. Of these, nine were sent to particularly high risk areas in Great Yarmouth, Sizewell Nuclear Power Station and a large electrical sub station. Two high volume pumps have also been deployed for the South East coast.

Twenty-one water rescue teams have also been strategically positioned to carry out rescues if needed.

Co-ordination of high volume pumps and water rescue teams is through Communities and Local Government emergency room in Victoria, London, the Fire and Rescue Service National Co-Ordination Centre in West Yorkshire and the Flood Support Centre in Hereford and Worcester.

Relevant local authorities have also been put in touch with counterparts in other parts of the country affected by the summer floods in order to share the lessons learnt.

Notes to Editors

The high volume pumps are part of the Government’s investment of over £200 million in specialist New Dimension equipment to enable the Fire and Rescue Service to deal with incidents such as flooding, collapsed buildings and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents

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