Major flooding which left Sussex holiday park under water was 'almost like tsunami'

Julie Dansie said her husband, John, waded through floodwater to rescue a young family with three children under the age of 10 after severe flooding at Medmerry Holiday Park. In total around 180 people were evacuated.

“I was woken up about 2am,” Julie said. “I could hear people calling for help.

"It was almost like tsunami – with the big waves. It was so windy and pushing the water towards us. It was like a big wave coming – I was thinking ‘oh god’.

"It was a scary time, we didn’t know how much water was coming.

"We are in a first-floor apartment, so are higher up than everybody else. We are the only people like that and you could see right across, everywhere is flooded.

"People were walking waste high with torches and calling out. I didn’t know what to do. I put a note on Facebook to offer help if anyone was struggling as we are higher up.

"My husband rescued the people behind us. We took an extra five people in with us as our friend had her grandchildren round. We gave them warm clothes.”

Julie said the rescue operation ‘seemed to be so well organised’.

She added: “The emergency services were there walking people from their chalets in a dinghy and taking them all to the actual club house – the Medmerry Arms upstairs.

“They came to us with a dinghy about half past 6 this morning to say we needed to leave too. It was very clear and very considerate. They took us from the holiday park to the church and took all our details.

"The management at Medmerry took us to Seal Bay on a mini bus. There were lots of emergency services there taking details – making sure there were no other people to check on. They all did a great job.”

Julie said she and her husband own the holiday home and are ‘there most weekends’.

Although they had a home nearby to go back to and ‘put the heating on’, the couple’s car was submerged after the floods.

"We are carless – it’s under water,” Julie said. “We’ve been told to let it dry out and see if it starts. We are just hanging around to see if the sun comes out and we can start our cars.

"It was really deep. You could tell that from the people walking around. Right up past their waist.

"We offered our flat to be used by the emergency workers. There were only about 20 properties on the whole site that haven’t been damaged.

“It’s affected most of the homes by the sounds of it. I don’t know how long it [the park] will be out of action for.”

Gordon Walker, Cove UK Chief Operations Officer, said the decision was made to close the holiday park until Monday, May 13.

He added: “We understand that many will be concerned, but our key priority is the safe evacuation of everyone at the park.

“Please DO NOT attempt to visit the park under any circumstances. If you have a holiday booked we will contact you to re-arrange.

“We will ensure that all are updated as soon as we’re able to assess the damage and the water level has dropped. While we appreciate the desire to call through to the park, at this time our teams are working around the clock to stabilise the situation and will not be able to take calls.

“We know that this will be a worrying time for many owners’ and holiday guests we appreciate your patience.”

West Sussex County Council said it is expected that ‘calmer winds and reducing tides’ are due in the coming days, ‘making the situation much better’.

A spokesperson added: “In the meantime, all those affected have been evacuated and provided with all necessary support until they can return to their premises.”