1953 Flood Articles

In the early hours of the 1st February 1953 The Isle of Sheppey was flooded in many areas, when several of the sea walls surrounding the Island were breached, due to extremely high winds and high tides.  Westminster Village was one of the areas where the sea wall was breached in two places. Water swept down the roads entering many of the houses, causing havoc within.  In some houses the water reached halfway up the walls of the downstairs rooms.  Others were luckier, with water just up to the skirting board. Below are details of some of the reported events.

GAS
Working under extremely difficult conditions, the men of the South Eastern Gas Board  kept the Island supplied continuously with Gas. One or two isolated cases of gas failure were reported, and this was due to service troubles.  All mains were cleared of water, and staff had been working hard to keep them so. Sheppey is supplied with gas from West Minster, with a bulk supply from Rochester.

Works Engineer, Mr. H. Hargraves said that the gas-works were flooded by three feet of water.  Mains had been covered, but the continuous supply prevented them from becoming waterlogged.  The men at the works had done a really good job and put their backs into it. Mr H. Wade, the works foreman who lived at West Minster was on duty almost continually since the Sunday.

ORDEAL OF RESIDENTS AT WEST MINSTER
Over two hundred residents in West Minster were marooned all day Sunday and  part of Monday in their bedrooms.  Water rushed through two holes about 30 feet wide, where the sea wall was breached.  The signal was raised by the gas-works whistle, but by this time the water was already seeping through the homes.  As anxious residents went downstairs to rescue valuables, they discovered that the water was already over two feet high. At the Queenborough end of West Minster, additional flooding was caused by water gushing down from the Whiteway Road area, and this reached a height of five feet.  By the Tuesday, this area was still impassable by vehicles.

Mr. Miles, aged 90 and West Minster's oldest resident, who was blind and an invalid, was sleeping in the downstairs front room, and lay helpless for some time before he was rescued by relatives.

In another house, the water reached the height of the piano keys.  Their cat jumped onto the top of the piano, and was rescued by a member of the family wading waist deep in the water.

In York Terrace, one elderly man who was living alone, had his house badly flooded and was unable to move downstairs the next day as the water had not subsided.  When his next-door neighbours were able to obtain food and supplies, they handed him matches, cigarettes and a cooked dinner on a tray through the window.  He had no fire, as all fuel was submerged on the lower floor.  By Tuesday, it was still impossible to obtain access to the house owing to the pressure of water at the back and front of the house, and neighbours leaning from their upper window, continued to supply him with hot tea and food.

Army lorries brought repair squads to West Minster on Sunday morning who worked really hard putting sandbags (some of which were filled by residents) into the holes in the wall in an effort to contain the water. Afterwards, the residents were full of praise for their work.

Milk supplies were brought to the outskirts of the village on Sunday morning by lorries.  Residents in wellington boots, distributed bottles to all of the accessible houses, whilst others were handed from window to window.  Further supplies were brought in and delivered during the day by the same method. In some houses, it was possible to have a cooked meal on Sunday, where the ovens had not been completely flooded.  Knee-deep in water, residents boiled potatoes and heated tinned food.

On Sunday, all attempts to reach the centre of the village, even in wellington boots, were impossible.  Many people with relatives in the area, tried frantically to obtain boats to reach the distressed areas, but despite enquiries to Army, Police and local authorities, this was not possible.  When the high tide came again on Sunday afternoon, the height of the water in the area increased and blocked drains, meant that there was no chance of the water subsiding.

One man from Lower James St. Sheerness, which was also badly flooded, was probably the only person to reach West Minster on Sunday.  He climbed from his bedroom window, waded in bare feet to the end of the road and obtained wellington boots.  Climbing on brick walls and window ledges, he was able to reach his relatives. 

By Tuesday, the floods at parts of the Sheerness end had subsided, and telegrams were brought to the Sub Post Office.  A walking passage to Sheerness along the sea-wall was also possible.  Contact was actually made for the first time on the Tuesday, and voluntary workers from the Rest Centre at the Technical Institute, took blankets, hot water bottles and meals to the stranded residents.  Also milk and bread were brought through.  Sanitation was a major problem for most residents, as conveniences were blocked and inaccessible.  However, this improved in some houses by Tuesday.

It took a long time for the village to recover from this disaster, but the community spirit was ever present.

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