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Langer Rd, Felixstowe (pic 24seven)

• 39 died, victims ranged from babies to over 80’s, some drowned in their beds

• hundreds made homeless
  
  
• surge hit just after midnight on the Sunday morning
  
  
• expected flooding from the sea, not the river
  
  
• river wall between dock and Fagbury Point collapsed and breached in seven places
  
  
• tidal surge engulfed an estate of prefab bungalows at the junction of Langer Road and Orford Road
  
  
• flooding to depth of 9 ft in places
  
  
• bungalows ripped from their foundations and floated away
  
  
• 28 people clinging to roofs were swept away and drowned
  
  
• only stopped when it reached rising ground at Ordnance Corner
  
  
• families were on roofs in cold, dark and wet, awaiting rescue - when they were finally rescued some were almost too cold to let go
  
  
• some waited several hours, some were not rescued until Monday am
  
  
• rowing boats, some from Butlins, took people to safety
  
  
• improvised oars used - in one case shovels
  
  
• four whole families were lost
  
  
• one man who escaped by swimming, looked over his shoulder and saw his bungalow following him
  
  
• caravans capsized
  
  
• beach huts smashed
  
  
• Cavendish Hotel in Felixstowe opened up as an evacuation centre and it remained open for about two weeks housing many of the people who had lost their homes and possessions