How does a coastal community respond to the impact of flooding and sea level rise?
In December 2013, spring tides, a low pressure weather system and gale force winds produced a storm urge with flooded Norfolk’s coastline. A flood warning was sent by the emergency services to residents in Great Yarmouth who live a certain proximity to the shoreline, residents whose housing is vulnerable to high tides and storm surges. Thousands of people, including National Saturday Club members, were required to gather essentials, leave their homes at night, and organise lodging somewhere more inland to stay the night.
Fortunately, a seawall, which was introduced following the 1953 flood disaster, prevented water levels from rising into people’s homes in some areas of Great Yarmouth and damages were mitigated.
These anecdotes and lived experiences emerged during discussions with National Saturday Club members, who have made a film documenting and responding to the 70th anniversary of the Great Floods – the most severe natural disaster to affect the UK in the 20th century.
It is reported the worst parts of the 1953 flood could have been avoided if warnings were sent down the coast earlier. This was a result of poor preparation, but also an unfortunate consequence of the flood striking during the night over a weekend. Search parties had to paddle in ex-military vessels under moon light, shining their torches into windows calling for survivors.
Tales of the 1953 floods became more visible this year as communities in Essex and Norfolk, the more affected areas of the UK, collected and shared oral histories and reflected on nation’s emergency response to this natural disaster. These stories have become urgent in the context of the human-driven climate emergency and rising sea levels which are impacting Norfolk’s coastline. Before it happens again, what can we do?
The Calm Before the Storm portrays a first-hand account of flood risk and zigzags between contemporary narratives and historic research. The personal impacts flooding has – to pets, toys, electronics… are expressed honestly and courageously by Club members.
We collaborated with Ellie Buchan who teaches film and media at East Norfolk College. Ellie introduced the group to the technical methodologies of filmmaking including perspective, framing and editing the film on Premier Pro software. Club members were intuitive film makers and happy to pick up a camera and shoot what’s around them.
It was agreed by Club members we needed to film the coast and the sea, so we trundled to Gorleston harbour from the college and took close-ups of the sea wall barnacled with lichens, and of the trawlers and shipping containers passing through the thoroughfare.
Along with a voiceover narrative and paintings, we pieced footage together with help from Eye Film under the creative direction of Club members, who maintained a lucid artistic vision for the film throughout the editing process.
The Calm Before the Storm can be watched on NMS’s YouTube channel and seen on display at Time and Tide Museum in the Red Herring Gallery, alongside a permanent display about the floods in the Reminiscence Gallery. It is reported a boat in the Time and Tide courtyard was used for the rescue missions in 1953.
The end of our film strikes a note of optimism – I wonder if one day we will all become mermaids? a club member ponders. The suggestion we could bio-engineer humans into something mythical and water-adaptive is suitably ambitious for National Saturday Club.
Holland was affected more severely by the North Sea floods in 1953, in terms of damages and affected people, and the country engineered a significant new coastline to avert further disasters. The Dutch film, De Storm (2009), tells the story of localised flood risk and its impacts. We hope The Calm Before the Storm will help inspire conversations and creative responses to flooding and the ecological emergency, helping us adapt to a changing environment.
Time and Tide Museum 