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Chichester Harbour Battered By Winter Storms |
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Written by step
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Monday, 10 March 2008 |
Since the small hours of this morning Chichester Harbour has been on the receiving end of one of the worst storms this country has seen for years, unfortunately the high winds and torrential rain coincided with spring tides. Throughout the Chichester area reports of fallen power lines, trees blocking roads and other incidents were being phoned through to emergency services.
One unusual incident witnessed by many people working in the Bosham Walk Arts & Craft Centre became potentially very dangerous as sea flood water had penetrated
the underground electrical junction just by the main entrance resulting
in a solid concrete cover being thrown up from the ground and damaging
the wall. The art centre was evacuated and two fire appliances
attended, Several properties in Bosham and Emsworth were flooded by very high seas.
 Also locally Selsey
was the scene of more flooding and a rescue operation was launched,
West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Coastguards, Police, and other
emergency crews are currently on scene at Selsey
searching for people who could be in the water or trapped in caravans
after sea defences were breached. Approximately thirty people are in
the process of being evacuated from Selsey West Sands Caravan Park by Fire and Rescue Officers Coastguards, and the Selsey RNLI Inshore lifeboat using mud paths and sledges. None of the evacuees are in the water.
The West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service Command & Mobilising Centre in Chichester received
a call at 13:16hrs this afternoon reporting that the defences had been
breached at the Caravan Park where 2,200 caravans are sited. The Selsey
Coastguard Rescue Team, the Coastguard Rescue helicopter Mike Uniform,
Sussex Police, West Sussex Fire and Rescue, the Fire and Rescue boat,
South east Coast Ambulance and Selsey Inshore Lifeboat are all on scene and involved in the operation.
More photos can be found in our weather gallery here
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The News 
