On Wednesday March 11 the Environment Agency warned boat owners about a possibly exceptional high tide shortly after midnight in the very early hours of Thursday – and REACT (the Rye Emergency Action Community Team) in the person of Anthony Kimber was on hand to check it all out and take the photograph above.
REACT is ready to spring into action whenever Rye is under threat – whether it is from the ever present problem of floods or the national coronavirus outbreak.
Advice on both issues can be found on REACT’s Facebook page and also on the town council’s website – with further links to NHS guidance.
REACT may need more volunteers as the pandemic develops, but currently (Thursday) East Sussex has been free of cases, though the national total has risen to nearly 500, with eight deaths to date.
As a result, perhaps, no obvious signs have been seen yet in Rye of panic buying, or of stocks of soap or hand washes running out.
As acting editor for a while though (John Minter is busy on the business side of Rye News) I found a face mask in the Day Lewis pharmacy in Rye High Street, and still have stocks of tins left over from Brexit scares when it seemed the Channel ports might be the centre of a massive traffic jam spreading back to Maidstone, Ashford and even Rye.
They may not be needed though, but I have to be careful as I am an elderly person with underlying health problems (apart from old age) and I was at Eastbourne Hospital on Monday.
My “patient transport” car took me on a lovely scenic route through the Weald’s woods and valleys and I was struck how last week’s rain on Wednesday/Thursday had turned some valleys (once tidal estuaries) back into what looked like Scottish sea lochs – which could be permanent if sea levels continue to rise.
When I’ve gone to Eastbourne Hospital by train the sea has proved alarmingly close around Bexhill and I wondered whether rising sea levels will put an end to fantasies of having high speed trains (or indeed any trains at all) coming across the marsh and along the coast.
I lived in South Devon before moving to Sussex and in bad weather at Dawlish waves regularly broke over passing trains – and recently the mainline into the West Country was closed for months while repairs took place.
Thoughts are now emerging into reinstating an old line (part demolished) around the north of Dartmoor to stop South Devon and Cornwall being cut off – and I recall train rides not that long ago over the flooded Somerset Levels.
Last week’s rain in our local valleys reminded me of those floods, and the sea is a threat which is not going away.
Image Credits: Anthony Kimber , Rye News library .