The night of 5–6 December 2013
A powerful North Sea storm surge reached Mersea during the night of 5–6 December 2013. Strong northerly winds, low atmospheric pressure and high tides combined to push sea levels well above their normal predictions. Nationally, it was the most serious east-coast surge for about sixty years, though its effects differed from place to place.
Flooding in West Mersea and on the Strood
A local account written on 6 December describes Coast Road underwater near the yacht club at about 1.30am, with debris carried up beside the houseboats. Water entered houses at the bottom of The Lane despite sandbags, while other homes narrowly escaped. At Seaview, water ran behind the beach huts and flooded part of the caravan site.
The Strood causeway was also flooded. One motorist told the local writer that the crossing had been effectively impassable for almost six hours; that is an eyewitness estimate, not a measured closure period.
The beaches and the following morning
Beach huts suffered damage, and photographs dated 6 December document the aftermath. At the eastern end of the island, the Cudmore Grove ranger reported that the country park’s sea wall remained intact and the cliff had fared comparatively well. The island did not experience the same level of damage everywhere.
How the surge compares with 1953
West Mersea Town Council’s January 2026 planning response describes the December 2013 tide height at Mersea as roughly 30 millimetres below the disastrous 1953 flood level. The closeness of those water levels does not mean the two events caused identical damage: the wind, waves, defences and patterns of flooding also differed. See the separate 1953 flood history.
The Met Office records that the Flood Forecasting Centre identified the possibility of a major surge more than five days beforehand, with firmer warnings three days ahead. This was a substantial improvement on the warning available in 1953.
Contemporary accounts and records
Mersea Wildlife: eyewitness account, 6 December 2013 · Met Office: the 2013 surge and warning lead times · Town Council: comparison with 1953.