Portland and Wyke flooding - February 1979 (From Dorset Echo)

Portland and Wyke flooding - February 1979

9:34am Tuesday 9th March 2010 in

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Wyke Regis resident Geoff Tizard has been in touch about the great storm of February 1979.

Mr Tizard, who lived in Wyke Regis at the other end of the causeway from Portland, was a civilian worker at the naval base at the time.

He said: “The road was closed, obviously, and I couldn’t get to work. It was the best excuse ever.

“The flood was amazing. All the cars at Chesil Beach Motors were damaged and others were thrown around like Dinky toys and piled up against houses. The strength of the sea was incredible, you don’t realise how powerful it is until something like that happens.”

Another Wyke Regis resident and Looking Back regular, Charlie Mullins also remembers the great storm.

Charlie, who lives on Portland Road, said: “We first knew that the storm was on the way when we could hear the waves crashing on the beach. You could hear all the shingle being dragged around and thrown up against the beach and the walls. It nearly deafened us.”