:00:00. > :00:00.Hello and welcome to the Look East late news.
:00:00. > :00:08.A major operation is underway in Essex to move people at risk
:00:09. > :00:14.What's the best way to improve our railways?
:00:15. > :00:17.MPs backing re-nationalisation address a meeting
:00:18. > :00:29.And the risk of ice tonight as temperatures drop below freezing.
:00:30. > :00:33.Join me later for all the details. Hello and welcome to
:00:34. > :00:35.the Look East late news. A major operation is underway
:00:36. > :00:41.in Essex tonight to move people out of their homes as the emergency
:00:42. > :00:45.services warn the area could be flooded when high tides combine
:00:46. > :00:50.with strong winds along the coast. This is when we're expecting water
:00:51. > :00:54.levels to peak tomorrow, starting at seven o'clock in Wells
:00:55. > :00:59.in Norfolk, reaching Lowestoft at 10.30 and then Harwich
:01:00. > :01:02.a couple of hours later. Tonight though, the effort
:01:03. > :01:06.is focused south of Harwich in low-lying Jaywick,
:01:07. > :01:22.where Katherine Nash is for us now. I am in the education centre about a
:01:23. > :01:26.mile away from the seafront. Preparations have been underway to
:01:27. > :01:32.receive people evacuated from their homes. You can see people behind me
:01:33. > :01:37.have turned up to seek shelter. The Environment Agency are warning that
:01:38. > :01:41.from one o'clock tomorrow a combination of high tide, storm
:01:42. > :01:47.surge and strong winds could cause severe flooding. Police have been
:01:48. > :01:52.out and about today warning people to be prepared. Emergency services
:01:53. > :02:03.gather tonight in Jaywick. More than 200 police, fire and coastguard
:02:04. > :02:05.preparing for a tidal surge expected to hit tomorrow lunchtime. This
:02:06. > :02:07.afternoon, police knocked on doors advising people to get ready to
:02:08. > :02:13.leave their homes tomorrow morning and make their way to a reception
:02:14. > :02:23.centre. We will all be out anyway. Are people worried? There is panic.
:02:24. > :02:31.The neighbours have panicked. She is not very well. A lot of panelling to
:02:32. > :02:34.stay. Barry who lives on the seafront is planning to stay and
:02:35. > :02:40.help neighbours who might be honourable. When we had it last time
:02:41. > :02:50.it was fairly calm as it is today. It came right up to the top of the
:02:51. > :02:52.water and then it just went back. At the education Centre, volunteers
:02:53. > :02:59.have set up an emergency reception centre. Sleeping bags, mattresses
:03:00. > :03:05.and hot drinks, a temporary home. The advice is for people to come out
:03:06. > :03:10.and use the centre. If they are staying at home on their own, it can
:03:11. > :03:13.be quite frightening if there is a tidal surge and the police are
:03:14. > :03:19.the best place to come to. the best place to come to.
:03:20. > :03:23.Forecasting the severity of a tidal surge is extremely difficult but
:03:24. > :03:28.police say people should heed warnings, leave their homes and take
:03:29. > :03:32.no chances. People planning to stay and watch the storm surge. That is
:03:33. > :03:37.not the advice of the authorities tonight because they see can be
:03:38. > :03:43.dangerous. Jaywick is not the only place at risk of flooding. No,
:03:44. > :03:48.warnings have been issued for parts of the Norfolk and Suffolk
:03:49. > :03:51.coastline. Preparations have been underway in Felixstowe and the
:03:52. > :04:00.Environment Agency are saying that from midday tomorrow, Felixstowe
:04:01. > :04:04.Ferry is at risk of flooding. Along with the Devon history and Ipswich
:04:05. > :04:11.key. If you think about it, all this heavy rainfall combined with the
:04:12. > :04:12.tidal surge and snow, it could be a very challenging 24 hours for parts
:04:13. > :04:17.of the region. Well, we saw the snow falling
:04:18. > :04:19.in Jaywick this evening making conditions there even more difficult
:04:20. > :04:22.and there has been snow across Weather Watchers sent us pictures
:04:23. > :04:26.of snow-covered houses in Rayleigh, while in Southend, the snow has
:04:27. > :04:29.started settling in the gardens. Gritting teams have been
:04:30. > :04:32.busy across the region. In Suffolk, 37 vehicles have been
:04:33. > :04:35.out on the roads from lunchtime and will continue throughout
:04:36. > :04:47.the night if necessary. We have a particular set of
:04:48. > :04:51.conditions on the forecast at the moment which is rain, sleet,
:04:52. > :04:56.followed by snow and one of the challenges we have to face is if you
:04:57. > :04:58.put salt down, it is washed off, it is not clever.
:04:59. > :05:01.Alex will be here at the end of the programme with
:05:02. > :05:05.but the advice, as usual, is keep up to date on all the latest
:05:06. > :05:08.developments with the weather and travel by listening to your BBC
:05:09. > :05:10.local radio station and checking out your local BBC website.
:05:11. > :05:12.Norfolk's troubled children's services department has
:05:13. > :05:16.appointed its second temporary director in three months.
:05:17. > :05:18.Matt Dunkley, who's been in charge of the same
:05:19. > :05:25.Norfolk County Council has already appointed four directors
:05:26. > :05:26.of children's services in as many years.
:05:27. > :05:44.He is a man with an impressive track record. The head of children's
:05:45. > :05:51.services in East Sussex, Matt Dunkley was awarded a CBE for his
:05:52. > :05:55.efforts. Mr Dunkley's predecessor also an interim hands over as
:05:56. > :05:59.director after just six weeks at the helm. Norfolk children's services
:06:00. > :06:03.which looks after youngsters is going through a turbulent time
:06:04. > :06:09.judged by Ofsted as inadequate, it's had a quick succession of permanent
:06:10. > :06:14.and interim heads since 2013. We seem to be going round in circles. I
:06:15. > :06:19.would like to see a permanent appointment and we can pick the
:06:20. > :06:25.right person. It is a bad message to constantly play musical chairs with
:06:26. > :06:30.this job. When Matt Dunkley takes up his job, Norfolk will have had five
:06:31. > :06:40.heads of services in five years. One person, Susan Cook has been in post
:06:41. > :06:47.2012. You need to change the way you do things? Yes, we might depending
:06:48. > :06:54.on the elections in May, depending on who is in control, my party is
:06:55. > :06:58.the Conservative group, we will look seriously at the way things work.
:06:59. > :07:04.Matt Dunkley is seen as a high-calibre appointment. He will
:07:05. > :07:07.head up the services until its next Ofsted inspection and so the search
:07:08. > :07:12.for a permanent director goes on and that could take up to eight months.
:07:13. > :07:17.What is needed is long-term expertise and stability.
:07:18. > :07:19.Around 100 people attended a meeting in Norwich tonight
:07:20. > :07:21.to show their support for re-nationalising the railways.
:07:22. > :07:24.The co-leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas,
:07:25. > :07:27.anger about the state of train services was growing.
:07:28. > :07:29.She said bringing them back into public ownership
:07:30. > :07:42.This is an issue which will not go away. With some punctuality levels
:07:43. > :07:47.at their lowest for a decade and complaints from the public
:07:48. > :07:51.continuing to rise, the call for renationalising the trains is
:07:52. > :07:56.finding a sympathetic ear. These the views of commuters in Ipswich. I
:07:57. > :08:06.think overall, it would be a good idea. We have had a patchy service
:08:07. > :08:10.from whatever the franchise. Constantly they are delayed,
:08:11. > :08:14.constantly they are delayed and it is really hard. Tonight in Norwich,
:08:15. > :08:18.despite the weather, 100 people turned out to hear the co-leader of
:08:19. > :08:24.the Green party talk about her attempt to try to renationalise the
:08:25. > :08:30.trains. Something she said would save money and lead to a better
:08:31. > :08:34.service. That ?1 billion we will be saving could be used to cut fares
:08:35. > :08:44.and reinvested back into our Railways. Also present the local MP,
:08:45. > :08:47.Clive Lewis. He said if state ownership of trains could work in
:08:48. > :08:56.many parts of Europe, it could work here. Passenger train is full of
:08:57. > :09:00.commuters bound for the office to work on computers. Despite the
:09:01. > :09:05.adverts, British rail was no tourists for poor rolling stock and
:09:06. > :09:09.bad punctuality. Supporters of privatisation say the train
:09:10. > :09:13.companies have brought in billions of improvements, money which the
:09:14. > :09:19.government does not have. The train operators are taking the risk but we
:09:20. > :09:24.see significant investment that we would not otherwise, such as ?1
:09:25. > :09:29.billion of new investment. But critics accuse the companies of
:09:30. > :09:33.putting the needs of shareholders ahead of passengers. The latest
:09:34. > :09:37.attempt to reverse privatisation will probably fail but campaigners
:09:38. > :09:38.insist public support is growing. They will not give up.
:09:39. > :09:43.Coming up now, Alex with more on the weather, but from the rest
:09:44. > :09:55.The main band of rain sleet and snow has cleared eastwards and although
:09:56. > :10:00.there could be some isolated sleet or snow showers, what we are left
:10:01. > :10:04.with is a dry forecast with long, clear spells and temperatures
:10:05. > :10:09.dropping so the major hazard becomes ice as temperatures get down to
:10:10. > :10:14.minus two Celsius. A cold start tomorrow. And area of low pressure
:10:15. > :10:20.from the north. This will bring further sleet or snow showers but
:10:21. > :10:25.also strong winds and the Met office has issued a yellow warning for this
:10:26. > :10:29.part of the country for those strong winds. Likely to be gale force along
:10:30. > :10:37.the coast coinciding with high tides. Early sleet clears southwards
:10:38. > :10:41.and then brighter skies, lots of dry and bright weather around with
:10:42. > :10:46.sunshine but it will be bitterly cold. If you factor in the wind
:10:47. > :10:52.chill, feeling colder than three or four Celsius would suggest. Further
:10:53. > :10:58.snow showers in the far North Eastern corner. Strong winds, gusts
:10:59. > :11:02.of 50 mph particularly in the mid afternoon. The outlook and
:11:03. > :11:03.note. If that's not your sort of thing, Sunday will be cloudier and
:11:04. > :11:13.milder. Good evening. It was such a mild
:11:14. > :11:19.December, wasn't it, but winter has arrived. Tomorrow morning, again,
:11:20. > :11:24.could be prising the wipers off the frozen windscreen. Yes, it's going
:11:25. > :11:27.to be cold tonight, whether it is liquid,/ or snow, it will freeze
:11:28. > :11:30.solid late at night with temperatures close to or below zero
:11:31. > :11:34.in many places. This was the early snow which pushed across the
:11:35. > :11:38.south-east, a few centimetres over the high ground. Now we concentrate
:11:39. > :11:41.on the showers, which feed in over the north and west of the UK. Some
:11:42. > :11:51.getting into the Midlands, giving a further coding in places. Ice will
:11:52. > :11:53.be widespread, warnings in force. Blizzards raging across Northern
:11:54. > :11:56.Highland Scotland as we head into the night and through the early
:11:57. > :11:58.hours we will see a band of sleet and snow heading down out of
:11:59. > :11:59.Scotland and Eastern counties of England.