Graham Stuart has visited Hornsea with Communities and Local Government Minister Andrew Percy to hear from residents who were affected by the recent tidal surge and to praise the emergency response. Homes were flooded on New Road and a number of properties had to be evacuated.
As the tidal surge approached Hornsea on the Friday evening, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, the police and the fire brigade worked flat out to make sure people in the evacuated properties had somewhere to go overnight. The Town Hall was opened for anyone who did not have somewhere to go but by 10pm everyone had found somewhere better to stay. The recovery operation started first thing on Saturday morning and by the evening the clear up was almost completed.
The situation was complicated down the coast at Withernsea where the gas supply was severed by the storm on Saturday evening. Council employees worked through the weekend to protect the community: Withernsea Leisure Centre was open for hot food and showers and they supported Northern Gas Networks who did a great job in giving out electric heaters and cooking rings and getting the gas back on in 28 hours.
Graham toured Hornsea with Mr Percy, who is the Minister responsible for resilience and emergencies, and Councillor Barbara Jefferson, who has also praised the work of all the emergency responders. He said: “The tidal surge was a huge challenge to people up and down the Holderness coast but both the community and the emergency responders handled it superbly. It was a smooth and swift operation and everyone pulled together – the community were fantastic and worked with the authorities to make sure that vulnerable people were safe, warm, and fed.
“There’s no doubt the emergency services have learned valuable lessons from previous flooding events and it was good to be able to discuss the positives we can take from this very difficult situation with the Minister.”
