Damage to homes and businesses expected
The Environment Agency has warned that flood defences could fail as a storm surge hits coastal areas today.
Thousands of people in East Anglia have been advised to leave their homes, but the flooding is unlikely to be as severe as initially feared.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown chaired a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee late yesterday afternoon as the possible scale of flooding became apparent.
There are eight severe flood warnings in place in Norfolk and Suffolk, as well as 12 flood warnings and 25 flood watches in those two counties, North Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Essex and Kent.
In London, the Thames Barrier was closed late on Thursday to protect the city from flooding.
Baroness Young, chief executive of the Environment Agency, told BBC News: “I hope our flood defences can cope but this is pretty severe weather and some of them may not.”
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