13/01/2017 South Today

Good evening, I'm Edward Sault. for the news where you are.

In a few hours' time a tidal surge of sea water is expected

to hit the south coast, bringing with it a risk of flooding.

People living in coastal communities in parts of West Sussex

and Hampshire are being warned to prepare themselves.

New coastal defences have been built since

the last tidal surge which brought misery to some in December 2013 -

Nikki Mitchell has been watching preparations in Littlehampton -

where large waves could come crashing in just after midnight.

This inn is fairly notorious here in Littlehampton

New permanent flood defence walls have been built right

into its very structure, and along large structures

Tonight will be the first major test of these new coastal

Where permanent flood defences are still to be completed,

temporary barriers have been put up today to protect nearby homes

A tidal surge is where strong winds are forcing the sea

And also where you've got low-pressure, the actual height

So that's what we've got in place at the moment,

and that's coming down the North Sea at the moment, which is, you know,

causing all those evacuations in those east coast communities.

We're not looking at anything of that scale, but we're just making

sure that our defences are in as good a condition

as they possibly can be, in places we're just bolstering them

But also urging people to just, if they are in flood warning areas,

to keep an ear out for their phones for any text messages.

And if they do get a flood alert or a flood warning,

it's very important they do make sure they are prepared,

Areas of concern here in Littlehampton up in Arundale,

over in Shoreham, and there are flood warnings

More alerts are possible, so people need to keep

We've got Environment Agency staff out all night,

checking the defences that are in place.

The tidal surge itself is expected to hit at around 12:30am.

We'll have a full weather forecast and a few moments' time.

Four day care centres helping people with dementia in Surrey

The Alzheimer's Society says it can't afford to keep running

There's uncertainty over where else the residents can go

This is a centre which is very much rooted in the town of Haslemere.

It was set up by local people, and as

we saw some of those arriving here this morning,

plain from what they had to say, that they'll

be completely devastated by the news that it's going to close at the end

John, my husband, attends here three days a week.

For him, it's going to end his world,

This is his world now, the way that the carers and the

For the local community, it makes a huge

Now, the Alzheimer's Society says that of

course people like John, who we were hearing

about just that, are the

But the simple fact is, that not enough

people have been coming here for the centre to pay

Surrey County Council says it's disappointed as

But the simple fact of course of the Alzheimer's Society

would say is that it's largely withdrawal of funding for patients

who come here from the county council that's behind what is now

Not very long ago, we had six day services running across Surrey.

That were well attended and well funded.

We're now down to three day services, and we're now faced

with having to close those three as well.

And we really feel the desperation of carers and

Now, this afternoon I caught up with John himself.

Now, because of his Alzheimer's, he struggles

dementia to in actual fact communicate on occasion.

But from what he said to me, it was quite plain that this

Well, they've been doing it for some time.

Now, both the county council and the Society have said

the main priority now is to find alternative places for people

If you talk to members of his family and others, though, the

simple fact is that they're concerned that there just aren't

Thousands of Southern Rail passengers were unable to get

to work because of the third strike this week by train drivers.

The dispute is about what's known as Driver Only Operation

where there is often no traditional guard.

Our transport correspondent Paul Clifton has been

Driver only operation, where the driver works

the train doors, is safe, according to Brian Denton.

But only with the right equipment and at stations with platform staff.

Some of the trains Southern operate our 15 years old.

Inherently, it is safe if it is correctly applied.

Now, the technology in particularly the earlier 377s that are used

by Southern trains is on par with, say, Windows 95.

He was a union official, and later a manager.

Drivers currently employed by Southern are not

The image and quality that the driver can see in his cab

mounted screens is less than it could be.

It's quite old technology, and it is low resolution.

But the following week, conductors strike on Monday.

And then the drivers strike on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

It will be even more disruptive than this week.

But now, here's Alexis with our weekend forecast.

Thank you. We are expecting the chance of one or two wintry showers

overnight, which is why there is a Met Office or ice warning in force.

It will be bitterly cold. Temperatures in towns and cities

will fall away to around minus one Celsius, perhaps down to around -4

services in the countryside. The chance with a wintry shower with

increasing cloud and northern parts, but otherwise clear skies elsewhere.

Chile, frosty start the day tomorrow, still the risk of wintry

showers through the course of the day to morrow. -- chilly.

Temperatures rising slightly, although there will be the brisk

north-westerly wind which will take the edge of temperatures. Eyes of

4-7 C. To my right into the early hours of Sunday morning, and Sunday

daytime, it will be quite grey, outbreaks of rain at times, and

temperatures become milder. A weekend of two halves. A cold day

tomorrow with the north-westerly wind. Milder on Sunday, staying mild

on 5-6 is the best we will have. It

stays cold into the beginning of next week as well

stop Good evening, a cold, icy night, but some others have other

concerns. This was the scene earlier today, huge waves crashing on to the

shoreline at Whitley Bay. We still have the peak of the high tide to

come in other parts. This is the flood line number. It's if you have

any concerns. The worst of the wind slowly comes -- subsiding. Wintry

showers across the North of Scotland and some filtering well inland

across the Midlands, giving a light dusting in some places. An icy

night, temperatures widely close to or below freezing, particularly

where you have snow cover. Tomorrow starts