Lifeboat station lost to sea as floods hit Norfolk

The Light Dragoons helped protect services in Great Yarmouth

Signs in Wells-next-the-Sea were barely visible because of the flooding

People were asked to help themselves to sandbags

A lifeboat station fell into the sea and the Army was called in to help as a storm battered the north Norfolk coast overnight.

The old lifeboat station and wooden structures used as houses were lost to the sea in Hemsby at about 20:30 GMT.

In Great Yarmouth, the Light Dragoons helped erect flood barriers to protect homes and the telephone exchange.

The sea produced dramatic scenes in Cromer, where six people had to be rescued from the pier.

The flood water came earlier than expected and caused a power cut at South Quay in King's Lynn.

At Wells-next-the-Sea the water went over the quay and flooded a pub and several houses.

Later on in the evening, the National Trust-owned Brancaster Activity Centre, in Brancaster Staithe, was hit by flooding.

Alex Green, a learning officer, said: "It's a mess. The water is about two foot high. It has flooded before but not for 20 years, as far as I know."

Look East reporter Simon Newton said sandbags had been left by the council in Great Yarmouth for people wanting to protect their homes.

"People were filling up wheelie bins with sandbags and carting them off to homes to try and protect them from flood waters," he said.