Dailymail.co.uk By Mark Duell and Sam Webb
A man stands in water washed onto the promenade of the north bay in Scarborough, which was described as looking like a 'scene from the Titanic'
More than 295 Environment Agency flood alerts in place in England and Wales, with most in East Anglia
- Gusts of 140mph in parts of Aberdeenshire and Inverness-shire as ALL trains in Scotland are cancelled
- Scarborough has been hit by surging seas and what one witness called it 'a scene from Titanic'
- Environment Secretary Owen Paterson chaired an emergency Cobra meeting today on storm disruption
- Police Scotland advise motorists not to drive in the south, west, central belt and south Perthshire
- Storm will create the biggest waves in living memory off north-east over next few days, peaking on Saturday
- Public should expect 36 hours of disruption, Norfolk Police warns as Great Yarmouth homes are evacuated
- Evacuations planned in Essex and Suffolk as people are seen being rescued in North Wales and Merseyside
The worst tidal surge for more than 60 years battered coastal towns along the east coast of Britain last night.
Sea walls were breached more than two hours before high tide last night after thousands of people had been evacuated from their homes.
The North Sea surge hit the north Norfolk coast early yesterday evening and headed south throughout the night. Chaotic scenes in the seaside town of Scarborough offered a glimpse into the floods which were set to swamp the east coast of Britain just a few hours later.
The fierce Atlantic storm - which has already claimed two lives - caused widespread disruption yesterday, but some agencies this morning said that the expected flooding overnight was less severe than expected.
Seaside towns across the region were braced for the worst floods in 60 years as 140mph winds battered the nation in a hurricane-force storm.
