Storm Destroys Skegness Pier 1978

Written by Angela Gooch on April 25th, 2008 in Disasters, Historical Buildings, People, Social History.

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Storm fury
SKEGNESS Pier Theatre was marooned when two huge sections of the walkway leading to it were swept away by the high tide and gales on a Wednesday night in January 1978.
And on Thursday morning the remaining sections faced similar weather conditions and another exceptionally high tide.
Wind peeled off sheets of glass from the pier arcade and the path underneath by the waterway was flooded.
The police said the most serious incident of damage was to the pier. The new sea defences north of the pier had been damaged but before the high tide on Thursday morning had not been breached. Two sections of the pier decking each about 50 yard long had been torn away by the sea leaving the shelters on the middle section which is still standing.
Waves soared to the top of the sea wall by the Sea View Road car park with spray being caught in the wind and blowing over the wall.
Sightseers in their hundreds turned out on foot, and in carloads all along the sea front and the police received about 50 calls from the public following the siren at 7 pm.
And there were many people on the beach early on Thursday morning looking at the damage and waiting for the high tide.

Grotesquely twisted try the savage fury of the gale-driven seas, the girders in the foreground are all that remains of the landward link with the central section of Skegness’ once-proud plot —and beyond that — nothing.
There should be several hundred yards more plot leading out to the massive 1,000-seat theatre, now marooned like a washed-up gas rig platform, but the sea took it all. The storm’s toll on the east coast included four major piers, and with many others already fallen into disuse, It could mean the sea Is achieving the and of an era for these massive monuments to Victorians. For Skegness it is a shattering blow to their entertainment facilities and some very costly decisions will have to be made very quickly If the town is to remain in the forefront of the holiday resorts.

Following the flood warning on the Wednesday night, kiosk owners on Tower Esplanade tried desperately to remove stored goods.
Some sea water reached almost as far as the Clock Tower although the adjoining putting green and gardens were unaffected.
When the tide ebbed the road was covered in sand, seaweed, mud and wooden posts.
The whole of the car park at the end of Princess, Parade was covered by the tide and the chalets were flooded but left standing. Chief Supt Edward Beverley said there had been no danger to people’s lives in Skegness.
Skegness lifeboat had to wait five hours until the tide had gone down before it could come ashore after being called out earlier in the evening.
It had answered a distress call from a 750 ton Greek cargo vessel which was drifting out of control six or seven miles from Skegness.
RECALLED
A pilot boat from King’s Lynn escorted the vessel into its harbour and the lifeboat was recalled halfway on its journey beaching at 11 am.
Sea defences at Chapel St Leonards near the boating lake were damanged but there were no. reports of them being breached. The wind smashed and overturned. a number of caravans along the coast.
The summer shows at the Pier Theatre will have to be cancelled. Mr R. G. Mitchell, managing director of the Pier Company Ltd, said on Thursday: “About half the decking has gone. There is no way it can be repaired in time for the summer.
“The whole thing has got to be looked into very carefully. We had no fears about its safety. It’s not covered by insurance for this kind of damage. The premium would be unreasonably high.
“No one was on the pier at the time. I was probably one of the first to see the damage.”
Asked if the Pier Theatre might have to be abandoned altogether, he said it was very difficult to make any statement at this time.
The first part of the decking to go was the same part which was broken in two by the Europa in 1919. It was 20 years before that was completely repaired.