THE EAST COAST PERIL T HE tale of disaster from storm
and flood is not complete by any means, and it is impossible as yet to compute its cost in terms of money. Some slight indication of the amount that will have to be spent on sea-defences is given by the estimate that in Kent alone the cost of restoring the sea-walls to their former condition will be between ten and fifteen million pounds. Anxiety returns with the spring tides and uncertain weather. The seas are rising again, and from the Humber to Kent there are anxious eyes on those stretches of wall where the breaches torn by the hurricane of a fortnight ago have been hurriedly sealed. The new warning system is in operation, and hundreds of police cars with loudspeaker equip- ment stand ready along the coast. Meanwhile the first grants from the rapidly growing Lord Mayor's Fund have been distri- buted to the counties of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Kent and the East Riding of Yorkshire. The Exchequer is to meet the cost of emergency repairs to sea and river defences, but otherwise the shape of the Government's policy to meet the " national disaster," as Mr. Churchill called it, is not yet known. "The scope of other Government assistance," the Home Secre- tary said in the House on Monday, " must depend on the extent of personal loss as it becomes known and upon the field to be covered by the Lord Mayor's National Flood and Tempest Distress Fund." This is reasonable, of course, but on the other hand _it may be difficult to gauge the full extent of loss if there is no system of receiving and registering claims by local authorities and private individuals. Might it not be more help- ful to farmers, householders and local authorities if the Government gave as soon as possible some hint of the policy which it intends to adopt ? Some important questions are raised by Mr. W. W. Williams of Cambridge University in his authoritative article published on another page of this issue. It is clear, for example, that we cannot construct a general defence against seas of the exceptional height reached on February 1st, but the floods have shown that there. are certain • key-points to which 'special• attention should be given. It would also be wise to restrict building to the minimum pn dangerously low ground, and Mr. Williams's suggestion that certain districts should be scheduled as danger. areas, and the inhabitants warned that they must obey official orders for evacuatjpn, should be considered by the authorities.
