14/02/2014 Look East - East

winter storms opposing more danger to British coastlines, with winds of

up to 80 mph. That's all from Hello and welcome to Look East. In

the programme tonight: After the rain, expect the winds. The region's

braced for more flooding and travel disruption. The Orwell Bridge will

close tonight, and on the trains they're expecting delays. We still

intend to run a full service but there is disruption.

A ?28 million scheme is underway to protect thousands of homes from

flooding. The grief of families after the

inquest into the deaths of four men in a construction accident. We will

never come to terms with our loss. And RAF Marham fly a jet in our

country to photograph the flooding. Hello. After a day of pouring rain,

tonight the east is braced for more disruption, with gale force winds

and more heavy downpours. An amber warning is in place for Essex,

Suffolk and Norfolk, with the wind gusting up to 70 miles per hour. On

the trains, Greater Anglia is trying to persuade everybody to travel

early this evening because the service is likely to be disrupted

tonight. On the roads, the Orwell Bridge will be closed from 10pm

tonight. And with at least an inch of rain falling on ground which is

already saturated, river levels will rise. Let's go live to Alex Dunlop

at Colchester Railway Station. Within the last minute, the rain has

returned. The wind is not too bad. An amber alert kicked in half an

hour ago. The winds are expected after midnight. Trees could fall

across the track later. There has been flooding on minor and major

roads. What a wretched day to see in the weekend. Tonight, drivers

battled through the storms on the A12 in Essex. Within half an hour,

there were five crashes on the county's roads. The Highways Agency

says if in doubt, delay your journey. Winds were up to 70 miles

an hour. The Orwell Bridge will close at 10pm tonight and may not

reopen till dawn. It's tomorrow that we may see the full extent of the

storms, and it could look like this ` a repeat of last Friday's floods

across Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. Schools were closed, houses flooded

and rivers burst their banks. Drivers had to be rescued from their

cars. Sinking water had to be pumped out of businesses. `` Stinking.

Tonight, Greater Anglia suspended ticket restrictions to try to

persuade rail commuters to head home early. There is a risk of disruption

if the winds take place. We're taking precautions and giving

warnings. We've put buses on at certain stations to allow

flexibility. We're allowing tickets through, to get people through

earlier. Many took that advice. Normally when the trains are delayed

it takes hours to get home. First come first serve. I was meant to go

to London but I haven't. This river in Essex was in full flow today.

Tomorrow, the headache may not just be floodwater, but the ferocity of

the gale force winds. We'll see what tomorrow brings. The National Trust

is closing one park in Norfolk as a precaution. So what's caused it all?

Here's Dan to explain. Another day, another area of low pressure. The

radar shows the rain. More strong winds to come. There is an amber

warning out. Gusts of 50 to 60 miles an hour. Strongest winds after

midnight. More details later. The Environment Agency has come in

for some strong criticism during the recent floods from people in

Somerset and even from Government ministers. It's been attacked for

not doing enough to prevent flooding, but today they made a

start on a ?28 million project at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk to keep

thousands of homes safe next to the river. Three men, three spades. This

was the ceremony to launch phase one of a three year programme to replace

600 metres of flood walls. Let's show you the geography of one of the

areas set to benefit. It's very close to the river. Here, they're

used to keeping sandbags to the ready. The floods of 1953 claimed

eight lives. 1,000 properties were overwhelmed. Then there was the

major alert of two months ago. Early December, we had water levels above

the 50s. We need to focus people. Long term, the project is just the

beginning. This is just the first five years. We're working on the

next phase already. We need to generate money. Up the coast, the

recent sea surge saw homes fall into the sea. Locals have raised ?24,000.

It wouldn't hurt for some money to be spent down here. The Environment

Agency insists these communities haven't been forgotten.

An inquest jury has returned a verdict of accidental death on four

men who were killed when a steel cage they were working in collapsed

on top of them. Two brothers from Suffolk ` Daniel and Tom Hazelton `

Peter Johnson and Adam Taylor died at Claxton Engineering in Great

Yarmouth three years ago. This is the steel cage which collapsed,

killing four men in January 2011. It was going to reinforce a concrete

base for a pressure testing facility at Claxton Engineering in Great

Yarmouth. The inquest heard that the four men were working inside the

cage, fixing metal bars above them to provide strength. The cage fell

over, collapsing like a picnic table. Daniel Hazelton and his

younger brother Tom both died in the accident, with Peter Johnson and

Adam Taylor. All four men worked for Hazegood Construction ` they'd been

contracted by another firm, Encompass Project Management. They

died at the scene from traumatic asphyxia. Today, an inquest jury

returned a verdict of accidental death. We will never be able to come

to terms with our devastating loss. Four men went to work and never came

home. The evidence showed that Dan, Tom, Peter and Adam were skilled

workers. No concerns were raised about the steel work they were

doing. We hope the Health and Safety Executive will take appropriate

action against those responsible so justice is done and it never happens

again. Hazegood is still going but has struggled to find work.

Encompass ceased trading in 2012. It was about to be dissolved before the

Health and Safety Executive stopped that from happening. The Health and

Safety Executive will now review the evidence in light of the inquest, to

decide whether further criminal proceedings are appropriate. We will

make a statement in due course. In closing the inquest, the Coroner

extended her sympathies to the families of the four men, who met

such tragic and untimely deaths. A structural engineer and a building

company have been fined a total of ?60,000 pounds after two men were

killed on a building site in Suffolk. Kevin Ruffles and Matthew

Skeet were crushed when a wall collapsed at Worlingworth near

Framlingham in October 2010. Barry Potts and the building company

Elliston, Steady and Hawes were found to have breached health and

safety regulations. Parents in Essex whose children's

centres are facing big cutbacks say villages and rural areas are being

unfairly targeted. Essex County Council has to save more than ?2

million from its budget for Surestart Centres. In some places it

will mean opening hours are cut from 40 to five hours a week. Every week

new mums and dads bring their babies to this parenting group at the

Carousel Children's Centre in Braintree. It's one of a number of

classes that the centre runs to help new parents, along with a drop`in

service that's open from 8am to 6pm every day. The fact that it's free

and open to everybody is great. You can ask people any questions you

might have. It's really helped with our little girl's development. But

across Essex, children's centres are facing cuts. These mums and dads are

among the lucky ones. This centre isn't being affected by these cuts.

Across Essex, of the 82 centres which will still be open after the

cuts, more than half will face a reduction in their opening hours.

These mums are among those affected. They say they're hitting rural areas

and fear there will be more to come. I can see it's only going to get

worse. Ones cut to 40 hour weeks could go down to five when they need

to make their next cut. As always, we are the ones that feel it because

we're in small villages. We need it. In a statement, the council said...

The Education Minister, Liz Truss, says decisions about children's

centres should be local ones. Parents will find out over the next

few months what impact these cuts are going to have. That's just one

of the stories featured this weekend on the Sunday Politics. And they're

also talking bingo, which is the one form of gambling that's taxed higher

than anything else. That's Sunday morning, BBC One at 11am.

A button on a control panel which was pressed by mistake led to a

ferry crashing into a harbour wall in Harwich last year. Nearly 500

people were on board the Sirena Seaways when it smashed into a

concrete berth in June. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch found

an officer had accidentally turned on a back`up system which left the

main controls useless. The ferry was holed below the water line. No one

was injured in the crash. Covers have now been put over back`up

control buttons so they can't be pressed by mistake.

Still to come: From M S to the NHS. One of the biggest names in

retailing helps out our hospitals. Plus the town that's top of the

table and bottom of the league at the same time!

This region has been doing its bit to help parts of the country like

Somerset and the Thames which have been hit hardest by the flooding.

Our Fire Services have sent rescue teams, farmers have sent animal feed

and troops have been filling sandbags. Now though, the help has

turned hi`tech. It came in the shape of a Tornado jet from RAF Marham in

Norfolk. It has been taking high resolution aerial pictures of the

flooding on the River Thames. Very recently those same cameras have

been used to monitor the Taliban in Afghanstan. These photographs are

being used by the emergency services to plan the relief operations. This

photo of the Thames Valley was taken by an RAF jet at 15,000 feet. It was

out for three hours and managed to cover 150 square kilometres. It's

used very rarely in the UK but is used extensively in Afghanistan. The

differences are minimal. It operates in the same way. RAF Marham usually

fly these jets over warzones, taking photos and gathering intelligence.

This week its mission has been over home territory. We can see where's

flooded, where's not flooded, and where is at risk. We can pass that

down to the ground, or civilian authorities. The photos show the

extent of the flooding around the Thames Valley. The water is at its

highest level in 60 years. The information will be used to move

sandbags and other resources. The operation has involved more than 100

RAF personnel. It was a real effort but everybody's very invested in

trying to assist wherever we can. We were doing that alongside our other

operations. The base will continue to analyse the photos over the

weekend. It could be used in future flooding operations.

One of the biggest names in British retailing has been brought in by the

NHS to help some of our struggling hospitals. Sir Stuart Rose turned

around the fortunes of Marks Spencer but now he'll be offering

leadership advice to the 14 hospitals across England which are

in "special measures". Here in the east there are three ` King's Lynn,

Colchester and Basildon, where the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt

launched the programme with Sir Stuart. The man who ran M has a

lot to learn about hospitals. Sir Stuart Rose met staff yesterday in

Basildon. Alongside the Health Secretary, he heard about changes

being made. The hospital is one of those put into special measures

after concerns about care. It's a world away from his retail

background. But he says he can bring people skills to the table. You

depend on people every day to do their job properly, do their job

skilfully... In the case of customers in a store, it's about

goods and services. Here, it's about the right service, prompt service.

Sir Stuart is someone who uses the NHS. He doesn't have private health

insurance. He's committed. But turning round hospitals is a huge

task. It's not a gimmick. I'll be judged on my success in turning them

around. Leadership comes up time and again as one of the critical issues.

Basildon has hired more staff, and care is improving. The hospital is

now run by a former nurse, who believes the NHS faces different

challenges from businesses. Sometimes we have less freedom than

an independent business. Our priority is not about the bottom

line ` important though that is, it's about the health and safety of

patients. The health union UNISON warned the NHS is fundamentally

different to retail, with patients turning to the health service when

they were at their most vulnerable. Sport now, and there can't be many

places with a club at the top of the league and another at rock bottom.

With a tale of one town and two teams... Here's Tom.

Yes, if you're a Saints fans you're on top of the world. If it's the

Cobblers for you, then Saturday afternoons have been rather gloomy.

Northampton's rugby players are fighting to be crowned Premiership

champions. The football team scrapping to stay in the Football

League. Every point will matter to both sides in the closing stages of

the season as our Sports Editor Jonathan Park reports. Northampton

has a rich and varied sporting landscape. In fact, no other town in

England contains professional rugby, football and cricket teams. But if

you're a Saints or Cobblers fan, your viewing experience has been

very different this season. Northampton Town have sacked a

manager, are bottom of the league and their status as a Football

League club is in doubt. But everything is going to plan for

Northampton Saints. They're top of the Premiership, in a cup semifinal

and supplying England with a number of players. I've followed many ups

and downs. We've fallen at the final fence before. But we're growing in

confidence. We're going well. It's depressing following the football at

the moment. We win so few. We don't score. We concede bucketloads. It's

a disaster. Awful season. Saints have powered their way to the top of

Rugby Union's top flight. The Cobblers are football's basement

boys ` 92 out of 92. But a crucial midweek win against Torquay has

fired them up. Goal! It was new manager Chris Wilder's first victory

in charge. 17 cup finals to go. Whether it goes into the last ten

seconds of a game... So long as we're still in there... We'll give

it all. Saints' loss is England's gain. They're still on for a treble.

Something the Cobblers can only dream of. We want them to stay up,

obviously. It's great having them about. This town is a good sporting

town, with football, rugby and cricket. Top or bottom, different

battles lie ahead. The audience awaits for the final episodes of

this Northampton drama. In football, no game for Norwich

this weekend so there's some respite for boss Chris Hughton whose job is

coming under mounting pressure. The club's Chief Executive David McNally

told BBC Radio Norfolk he's watching the situation carefully and is aware

of the fans' concerns. He admits performances have been encouraging

despite the club boasting just one win in 11 Premier League games. He

also insists Hughton has their support with the manager still

positive he can keep them up. Norwich are one point clear of the

drop`zone. Now one team who'd dearly love to

trade places with Norwich are Ipswich. Town are just three points

off the play`offs with 16 games to go. They're at home to Blackpool

tomorrow knowing that with the top five looking nailed on, there's

going to be quite scrap to finish sixth. It's that type of league ` as

easy as you win three, you can lose three. We just keep plugging away

and try to be consistent. Hopefully by May we'll have done enough to be

in the top six. And there's some football tonight in

League One. Here are the fixtures. Olympic champion Greg Rutherford

makes his first appearance of the season indoors in Birmingham

tomorrow. The long jumper from Milton Keynes is joined by Bedford's

Nigel Levine, Andrew Osagie from Harlow, hurdler Will Sharman and

Robbie Grabarz in the high jump. For Rutherford, no chance to ease

himself into competition. He's up against the three medallists from

last summer's World Championships. He's been out with injury. That's

it. Check out the website. Let's go back to our main story now

` the strong wind and rain which have been sweeping across most of

the region today. It's the weekend and the start of the half`term

holidays, so what can we expect over the next few days? A question I put

to Adrian Gosling from the Environment Agency headquarters in

Peterborough. The rain's started to come through already. People have

seen a band of rain already. The rivers are going to react. We advise

people near the big rivers to be aware and log on to the websites. We

have a big region with a lot of rivers in it. Is Essex the main

trouble spot? What other areas are you concerned about? Everybody needs

to be aware. Those people who experienced high levels last Friday

will experience similar levels. They need to be aware and alert. Are you

expecting things to calm down after the weekend? After tonight. But

people shouldn't relax. It can take three to five days for water to go

through certain river systems. People need to be alert to that.

Especially when they're out. Take care. We're talking about the water

but there will be high winds too. Does that have a knock`on effect?

Yes. People near the coast need to be aware. There will be big waves at

the coast and slightly higher than normal tides. I advise people to be

cautious and careful. Thank you. Time for the weather. Here's the

radar picture. The Met Office have an amber warning out. Gusts of 50,

60, even 70 miles an hour. Trees could be uprooted. Inland, we are

widely covered by a yellow warning. The winds increase. Midnight to 3am

will be the wildest. Temperatures are actually rising. Eventually down

to six or seven Celsius. Tomorrow will still be windy. Saturday will

be windy, with a mixture of sunny spells. Gusts of 40 to 50 miles an

hour. They'll ease down progressively. Quite mild, actually.

Showers gradually pull away to the east. Tomorrow night it will be dry.

Perhaps a touch of frost on Sunday. Much better day then overall. The

next weather front eventually comes in. It may take till late in the day

till it reaches our region. Here's the projection.