UK gales and storm surge - As it happened

Key Points

• Thousands of households along vulnerable coasts are evacuated as seawater floods coastal areas of eastern England and North Wales
• The North Sea tidal surge is the worst since January 1953, the Environment Agency confirms
• A lorry driver in Bathgate, W Lothian, and a man in Retford, Notts, die in weather-related accidents
• The Environment Agency issues more than 50 severe flood warnings in Wales and the east of England
• Rail services in Scotland, northern England and East Anglia are disrupted by the weather
• Thousands of homes are without power in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland