The emergency services are warning of major flooding risks as the UK faces a day of weather chaos.
Hundreds of homes in Norfolk and Essex are being evacuated after officials warned that the lives of people in the region could be at risk from the worst coastal tidal surge for over 60 years.
And tens of thousands of properties across the country have been hit by power cuts as winds of up to 140mph battered powerlines.
The Met Office said there had been severe gales of between 60mph and 80mph across Scotland and northern parts of England, and some mountainous regions in Aberdeenshire and Inverness-shire reported speeds of around 140mph.
The Environment Agency (EA) has issued a number of severe flood warnings the highest category, warning of danger to life to the east coast of England and north Wales as high tides and strong winds threatened to swamp the coastline.
Officials said that 6,000 homes could be flooded in the “worst case scenario”.
Almost 700 homes are being evacuated in Norfolk as local officials attempt to stem the damage from the coastal surge.
The agency said communities along the North Sea coast from Northumberland to the Thames Estuary and Kent, in addition to those on the Irish Sea coast from Cumbria down to Cheshire, could see significant coastal flooding later today and into Friday.
A spokesman said in some areas sea levels could be higher than those during the devastating floods of 1953, but defences built since then including the Thames and Hull barriers mean that many parts of the country are much better protected.
However, some coastal flood defences could be “overtopped” by the combined effect of high tides, high winds and a large tidal surge, he said.
There are flood warnings in place in Scotland but none is at the ‘severe’ level being seen further south.