Pompey locals show Dunkirk spirit

By Dan Bell
BBC News, Portsmouth

It is just gone midday when the storm finally breaks over the harbour wall.

A car is a casualty of the high tide at Portsmouth Dockyard

And when it happens, it happens fast.

For the past six hours, three flood response teams have been chasing around Portsmouth shutting floodgates and laying sandbags.

They are just about to close the flood barrier which will protect the tightly-packed homes and businesses on the harbour wall - when it jams.

But even now, with the waves about to breach the harbour wall, it seems Pompey locals are well-aware it's pointless to get worked up about a fight with the sea.

Two men use an angle grinder to attack the padlock jamming the floodgate as the shallow trickle of water swells to a six-inch deep flow.

Crisis over

One resident who seems to embody the Pompey coastal spirit is David Lloyd. His newly-built home is directly in line with the flood water.

"It'll be about 4ft deep here unless you shut that gate. Have you seen this before? Because I have," he shouts in the direction of several men in bright yellow waterproofs, who are struggling to stem the flow with sandbags.

Moments later they manage to cut the padlock and shut the gate. Crisis over, Mr Lloyd seems to have been rather enjoying himself.

"When I was five and with my waist deep in water it was lots of fun and it's the first time it's been as good as that."

Why deliberately build a house so close to an area you've grown up seeing flood?

Adverse weather is better than a sunny day in Southsea Will Bartlam

"I like it here. I wish the people who didn't like it flooding would move away."

Over by the sea wall, Will Bartlam, 51, a recruitment consultant, was squinting into the spray and taking photographs of the waves.

"Excellent. Adverse weather is better than a sunny day in Southsea. They're boring, sunny days."

Is he aware people have been warned not to stand on the sea wall?

"Why miss a great storm? One of the great things about living here is you can normally storm chase all of the way down to Brighton."

'Running on adrenaline'

But not everyone was so relaxed by it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Caroline Barford, 32, coastal engineer for Portsmouth Council, who has been overseeing the flood response, was a little more tense.

"I got a phone call at 6.30am but I had already done the high tide which was at 12.45am. I can cope with it, but when it's finished I'll have a big long sleep.

"I'm still running on the adrenaline."

The Still and West pub would only be closer to the sea if it was in it. The past few hours have been very tense for its assistant manager, Robert Harkness, 34.

"It's the worst I've seen in seven years. There's nothing we can do, it's completely out of our hands. The council came down and put up sea defences on our doors and then we just have to wait and see.

"You have to make a decision on the spot. I had to call the boss, it's a push, do I get rid of all the customers?"

Lunch worries

Outside, the pub garden is 2ft deep in water, its chairs and tables have been rearranged by the waves.

"We'll just have to sit down and let nature take its course."

One man who was sat inside the pub as the storm surge peaked is Jim Brisland, 55, a property developer from Cirencester.

"It was a close-run thing, it's that Dunkirk spirit thing. But it was very quiet in here, everyone was waiting for something to happen.

"It was pretty scary. The waves were breaking over the wall, we said: 'Well, if the windows smash in, then we'll have to go'.

"We weren't sure what we were going to do with our lunch."