Skip to content

Valentine's Day: How storm trapped 32 diners

Sarah FarmerSouth of England, Milford on Sea
News imageBBC A woman in a green polo jumper sits next to a man wearing a plum jumper with a checked shirt. They are seated at a wooden table in The Lighthouse restaurant. BBC
Sue and Richard West were dining at The Marine Restaurant on Valentine's Day 2014

This Valentine's Day marks 12 years since one of the most destructive storms hit the coastal town of Milford on Sea.

The army and emergency services had to rescue 32 people from The Marine Restaurant on the seafront, after they had become trapped by surging floodwater.

No-one was injured, but the building took a battering.

"The windows just gradually started to crack," recalls Sue West, who was dining in the restaurant with her husband, Richard. She remembers the shingle pelting the glass: "It was just all hitting the windows but then there were bigger rocks, so the glass started smashing even more."

News imageA blue and a red car are abandoned on the grass verge, their windows shattered. They are surrounded by planks of wood, strewn across the pavement and grass. In the background, there is a cream 3-storey building. The sun is shining, reflecting the light on the wet pavement.
Storm damage outside The Marine Restaurant in 2014

Richard's memory of the evening was just as vivid: "The whole sheet of glass would the break."

"And the noise," added Sue. "It was terrifying at the time."

Stormy conditions were forecast for the 14th of February 2014, so the coastguard was on standby.

Matt Renouf was one of the coastguard rescue officers who responded to the call out: "It had been predicted that there was going to be a storm force 11, which is one below a hurricane force 12

"It was forecast also to be a very high tide. The army had also been put on standby which was the first time I had ever heard of the army being put on standby, all along the south coast."

They worked with the army and marine police to rescue customers.

Renouf remembers the challenges they faced getting to the building: "It was like a disaster movie. I've never seen anything like it. There were vehicles that had been washed across <the road>, boulders. Waves were crashing over us, it was deafening."

News imageThe glass of double doors and windows has been blown out. Glass is scattered across the floor. Beyond the doorframe, you can see a concrete wall and the waves of the sea further in the distance.
The glass in the doors of The Marine is shattered by the force of the storm and shingle

The building's owner, Richard Thompson remembers being escorted out of the property: "They essentially guided us down the staircase through here

"There was about 18 inches of water as they were leading us through. They ensured that we all held hands together in a long chain and made sure no one was left within the building."

No one was injured, but the building sustained serious damage.

"It wasn't until the next morning when it was light and you could actually see the extent of the damage," said Richard. "You could see cars upside down and totally trashed outside the building, the windows were all broken. It was total devastation at the time."

The downstairs of the building was refurbished and re-modelled – the restaurant there known now as The Lighthouse. The team running are hoping for calmer conditions this Valentine's Day.

You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.