Worst winter storms on record caused Christmas and new year misery in Chichester nine years go

'Soul-destroying’ blockages flooded the A27, as well as nearby businesses, with the stretch between the Portfield roundabout and the A285 at Halnaker being particularly bad. At one point on Friday, January 17, 2014, the A27 at Chichester was closed between Tangmere and the Portfield roundabout after heavy rain caused flooding and a number of other roads were affected, including the A29 at Bury Hill.

The onslaught of heavy rain throughout January 2014 caused a groundwater flood alert for West Dean, Singleton, Charlton, East Dean and Chilgrove. Flooding disrupted roads around Stoughton, Walderton and Westbourne, particularly the B2147 and the A286 between East Lavant and East Dean, and the B2146 between Hairs Lane and West Marden was also temporarily closed.

Some roads in Bosham were flooded, including Brooks Lane and Taylors Lane, and there was a flood alert in place for the River Lavant, with alerts for West Dean, Singleton, Charlton, East Dean and Chilgrove. The A286 was flooded both ways between The Drive, Chichester, and Chichester Road, Midhurst, after the River Lavant burst its banks on January 24, 2014. The Environment Agency said it was because high groundwater levels were keeping the level of the River Lavant high.

The River Rother also burst its banks, causing a catalogue of problems in Fittleworth, including the risk of flooding to homes from excess surface water on the recreation ground. At Pulborough Brooks, the winter floods were very dramatic, with two of the hides becoming inaccessible, and inevitably a significant clean-up operation was necessary once the floods receded.

Piles of pebbles were left on the storm-battered Bognor Regis seafront on January 9, 2014, after shingle from the beach was thrown on to the promenade by a week of strong gales and high tides. The maximum wind speed in the previous seven days averaged 52mph, measured by the town council’s weather observers, meaning some gusts were even stronger. The stormiest day saw a high tide of 6.3m at 12.22pm, accompanied by a gale force nine wind, sending spray across the promenade as the waves crashed against the shore.

Random acts of kindness from strangers helped a family in Midhurst when floods devastated their house, including doing their washing, while an 80-year-old woman woman was rescued by two unnamed knights in shining armour when she was left stranded in flood water near Woolbeding Bridge with a disabled friend. At the White Hart pub at Stopham Bridge, picnic tables were left in trees and £10,000 worth of damage was caused by a flood over the Christmas holiday.

The Met Office reported unusual conditions in the tropics and stratosphere, which gave rise to the very wet months of December 2013 and January 14. Climate change made a secondary contribution by increasing the moisture holding capacity of the atmosphere.

The national meteorological service said: "The winter of 2013-14 will be remembered for many years for remarkably widespread and persistent flooding that affected many parts of England, including the low-lying Somerset moors and the Thames Valley. Rainfall between December 2013 and February 2014 smashed previous winter records in numerous regions – including for the UK as a whole and for Southern England. Some of these rainfall series extend back more than 250 years. The seemingly unprecedented nature of events – and further exceptionally heavy rainfall and flooding in winter 2015-16 – has led to questions about whether the UK is beginning to witness a dramatic change in its climate."

In February 2014, the Met Office noted that weather patterns globally were unusual and that this could be linked to the very wet weather. Over the course of a season, even influences from the other side of the globe can change the weather experienced in the UK. A study published in 2017 concluded that weather conditions in the tropics and stratospheric wind patterns were largely responsible for creating the succession of winter storms that brought record rainfall between December 2013 and February 2014. While all tropical regions appeared to have some influence, conditions in the tropical Atlantic sector look to have had a particularly important role.

Jeff Knight, the study’s lead author, said: “During winter 2013-14, there was very heavy rainfall over the Western Amazon - even greater than usual. This effectively created a disturbance to high-level wind patterns that propagated outwards from the tropics. At the UK’s latitude, it resulted in a southward kink in the jet stream that was very long-lived and brought storm after storm across the country.”

The first storm was on December 5, 2013, bringing strong winds to Scotland and northern England. The storm of December 18 to 19 again resulted in travel disruption and several thousand homes without power across western Scotland and Northern Ireland. The storm of December 23 to 24 caused widespread flooding across southern England and extensive power cuts, with around 50,000 homes remaining without power through the Christmas period. Rail services were cancelled due to fallen trees and Gatwick Airport was affected by flooding. There was further stormy weather with heavy rain and strong winds on December 26 to 27 and again around December 30 to 31. Flooding impacts continued into the new year period, and in early January included large-scale river flooding in Gloucestershire and sections of the River Thames. In a repeat of the exceptionally wet weather of November 2012, the Somerset Levels were also inundated.

Workers at West Sussex County Council were praised in Parliament for working flat out to help people affected by storms and floods across the county. A total of 750 incident calls were dealt with outside normal working hours between December 23 and January 7. Of these, 250 were flooding related, while another 250 were to do with fallen trees. Another 250 calls were received to deal with other incidents.