BRITAIN:Dawn came with a terrible sense of foreboding as East Anglia woke in the knowledge that the worst high seas for more than 50 years were heading for shore amid dire warnings of threats to life and property.
Sandbags had been filled, makeshift barricades erected and thousands of homes evacuated as a tidal surge to rival the devastating high waters of 1953 approached. But when morning came the peak of the conditions caused by a combination of gale-force winds in the North Sea and a high tide which battered the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk left only minor damage.
Police in Norfolk had knocked on 7,500 doors to tell residents they should consider evacuating. Hundreds spent the night in temporary accommodation in schools and leisure centres, while others moved further inland to stay with family and friends.
With memories of the summer's catastrophic floods in Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire fresh in the minds of residents and politicians, no one was taking any chances. The government's emergency Cobra committee met three times, convening before dawn, with Gordon Brown at its head.
In parts of the region, waters rose above 9ft (3m) - the highest mark since the 1953 floods, which killed more than 300 people. There was localised flooding in Norfolk and Suffolk, but no major defences were breached and last night none of the eight severe flood warnings issued on Thursday remained in place.
Lincolnshire, the Humber, the northeast of England, and Kent escaped trouble. In London the Thames barrier and the Queensborough and Dartford Creek barriers were operated. The Environment Agency warned, however, that the Broads, which do not drain between tides, faced flood risks over the next two tidal cycles - at least 24 hours.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said several important coastal bird breeding grounds had been flooded and urged the government to create large areas of reedbed inland "to prepare for the day when the sea claims large areas of the English coast".
The agency's chief executive, Barbara Young, said East Anglia had come within a "whisker" of widespread flooding.
One of the worst hit coastal villages was Walcott in Norfolk, where 12ft waves breached the sea wall, smashed conservatories and holiday accommodation, and blew caravans and boats across the coast road.