On January 6, 1928, there was a south westerly gale which quickly turned north easterly, coinciding with high tide.

The sea wall was broken at Basin Point, Maldon Ironworks, and at Sadds’ sawmills.

The water flooded the Causeway and Hall Road to a depth of over 3ft, or more; drowning “hundreds of chickens, cats and some dogs”.

Old people were “up to their armpits” in freezing water.

This flood was similar to ones in 1898 and 1905.

The seawall was radically changed after the East Coast floods of 1953 and was re-enforced with steel shuttering in 1991.

I have heard it is 0.5m less than current Government guidelines.

Presumably houses to be built in the new suburbs at Heybridge are expected to last for 50 years or more—and many will be sold with 30 year mortgages.

If you look-up sea level forecasts, it seems likely to rise half a metre in the next 30 years, and anything between one and two metres by 2100.

Are there any plans how to cope with this? Shouldn’t the new houses be built on floats?

Jon Howorth

Victoria Road, Maldon