In the early hours of Sunday morning February 1st 1953, 2000 people were made temporarily homeless as the night tide overran the sea defences.

The damage caused was estimated in the hundreds and thousands of pounds and was the greatest disaster in the Town - eclipsing the great flood of the 1890s.

Seawater poured through and breached the partly completed new sea wall into the low lying parts of Whitstable. The water swirled into the Town over defence works at the Horsebridge, Harbour and Beach Walk areas.

At the time, police were patrolling the sea wall and noticed the tide getting high in the Harbour at approximately 10.45pm and, with high tide over two hours away at 1.07am, warned householders in the danger areas of West Beach, Island Wall and Wave Crest. In one house at Island Wall, the water rose to 6 ft in the basement.

At the Horsebridge, scores of oyster barrels were swept away and were found floating outside St. Alphege and Congregational Churches in the High Street. At this time, water also swept into Cromwell Road and Bexley Street.

The old reservoir, now the Gorrell Tank car park, overflowed above the height of the railings and water surged into Station and Reservoir Roads.  Telephones were out of action.

In the Nelson Road area, water rushed between the tennis courts and into Island Wall.  Cars parked in the Golf Club were swallowed up and water reached the roof of the clubhouse.  There was great concern for residents of Collingwood Road which bordered the Golf Course.

 Seasalter Golf Club House in modern times

Water was forced through the draining system and areas not reached by the sea were also affected - particularly Cromwell and Belmont Roads as the Gorrell Stream was in full flood.

Beach huts on Long Beach were cast over the sea wall into the harbour car park and the Neptune Pub, which had recently been rebuilt after earlier damage, suffered badly when the waves tore away the back wall of the Pub and rushed through the bar.

At West Beach, only the Red Spider Cafe stood with the walls barely holding together and the inside full of stone and shingle.

To assist the plight of local residents, the TA was mobilised with extra police from Canterbury and Medway assisting. The American Air Force based at Manston offered a great deal of help and a centre for the homeless was set up in All Saints Hall along with a reception and rest area at the Oxford Street Boys School.

In their memoires, my mother-in-law, Beatrice Warrington-Black and brother-in-law Bill say  that it was three weeks before they could return to their house in Nelson Road which was eventually dried out with the assistance of the emergency services and the RAF and their engine warming machines.

On the Monday following the flood, many local shops in the High Street opened for business as usual albeit limited and sometimes from an upstairs room whilst the ground floor was being drained and repaired.

This was a slow process as the water was penned in by the sea wall which had to be breached for some of the water to be returned to the sea.

The Oxford and Regal Cinemas were partly flooded but soon returned to performances as usual but using balcony seats only.

A great number of local volunteers worked tirelessly to assist those made homeless and it wasn't until the following Tuesday when 60 fireman and pumps from East Sussex working continuously day and night  to help the residents to return to some kind of normality.