Storm Goretti Was Lydd’s Warning — Nine Months Later, Its Community Resilience Plan Still Doesn’t Exist

As autumn closes in and another winter approaches, Lydd, like the rest of us towns and villages, is heading back into the season of strong winds, heavy rain, high seas and coastal storms. Yet nearly nine months after Storm Goretti demonstrated just how unexpectedly the sea can behave along this district’s coastline, Lydd Town Council still has no Community Resilience Plan of its own.

That is why Goretti matters now.

The storm struck on 9 January 2026. Around Denge Marsh and Galloways, the aftermath included flooded land inland from the shoreline, while material gathered following the event records the deaths of 14 sheep. Questions were subsequently raised with the Environment Agency about the condition of the shingle crest, when damaged defences would be restored and what interim protection existed should another serious storm arrive before permanent repairs were completed.

But Goretti’s real warning went beyond the physical damage.

At Kent County Council’s Flood Risk and Water Management Committee in March, Environment Agency officers said the storm had caused significant impacts along the Kent coastline even though none of the established storm alarms had been triggered. The event hadn’t met the predetermined criteria for those alarms, and officers said discussions with hydrological experts were taking place to understand what had happened.

In other words, damaging coastal conditions occurred without the warning system behaving as might normally have been expected.

For somewhere like Lydd, that matters enormously. This is a community sitting within the extraordinary low-lying landscape of Romney Marsh, where protection depends not on one wall but on layers of coastal defence, shingle, drainage channels, pumping systems and the ability of agencies and communities to respond when water goes somewhere it shouldn’t.

So after Goretti, a simple question was asked: what emergency response and evacuation plan exists specifically for Lydd?

The answer became a journey around three councils.

Lydd Town Council was asked for its current emergency plan and any annexes or sub-plans dealing with flooding and evacuation around the town’s perimeter. Its eventual response was stark: the requested Lydd Town Council Emergency Plan wasn’t held because “it has never been created.”

The enquiry then went to Kent County Council.

KCC said it holds a county-wide Flood Response Plan, but explained that it doesn’t contain detailed information about the protection of individual locations or specific evacuation arrangements. Instead, it said Local Multi-Agency Flood Plans were maintained by borough and district councils, directing the enquiry towards Folkestone & Hythe District Council.

FHDC confirmed it has a Major Emergency Plan covering the district. It also said it doesn’t hold individual town and parish emergency plans, “if they exist”.

And then FHDC pointed to section 11.3 of its own Major Emergency Plan.

That brings the issue straight back to Lydd.

The Town Council’s website currently directs residents to the Kent Resilience Forum’s general emergency handbook. For flooding it gives KCC’s emergency telephone number, directs residents towards Environment Agency flood alerts and says Lydd Town Council keeps empty sandbags available for residents who need them. Outside office hours, the website provides contact details for obtaining those bags.

All of that is useful information.

But it isn’t the Lydd-specific Community Resilience Plan envisaged by FHDC’s Major Emergency Plan: the local document setting out how the community itself is prepared to operate when normal arrangements are being tested.

And there is a reason this shouldn’t simply be filed away as another administrative omission.

Look at what Goretti did further along the same district coastline.

At Folkestone and Sandgate, FHDC said displaced shingle closed the A259 Sandgate Esplanade, railings and seawalls were damaged, beach huts were moved and diggers had to clear the back of the seawall so water could drain from the road. The council described the damage as significant, although importantly it said there were no reports of flooding or damage to residential properties and credited its twice-yearly beach-management programme.

Cllr Tim Prater’s contemporary account gives a sense of the force involved. He described Goretti as producing the worst damage Sandgate had seen for more than 20 years, with the Esplanade flooded, vehicles floated across the road, street furniture devastated, beach huts destroyed or disappearing altogether, multi-tonne rocks moved and the Mermaid Beach breakwater wrecked. He also praised Kent Highways, FHDC and contractors for getting onto the scene within hours, with the Esplanade reopened by late afternoon the following day.

FHDC subsequently pointed to the same event as evidence that its coastal protection arrangements had worked.

In March, Cllr Stephen Scoffham said Goretti had provided a “conclusive answer” about the effectiveness of the council’s programme of recycling and regrading shingle. Around 100,000 tonnes of beach material was then due to be moved between Fisherman’s Beach and Folkestone Harbour to rebuild protection against high tides and storms.

The storm nevertheless left a sizeable repair bill. By August, councillors had agreed to spend up to £200,000 repairing the Mermaid Beach breakwater, where concrete sections had been dramatically displaced. FHDC specifically said it wanted those works completed ahead of possible future winter storms.

That last point is difficult to overlook.

FHDC itself is preparing damaged infrastructure for the winter ahead because Goretti showed what one storm could do. Its current autumn publication again refers to getting the Mermaid Beach work completed ahead of future winter storms.

Yet nearly nine months after Goretti, Lydd enters that same autumn and winter without the town-level Community Resilience Plan which FHDC says every town and parish council should have.

That doesn’t mean there would be no emergency response if Lydd flooded. FHDC has its Major Emergency Plan, KCC has county-wide arrangements, the Environment Agency has flood responsibilities and the Kent Resilience Forum provides multi-agency planning. FHDC also publishes district-wide advice covering flooding, extreme weather, power cuts and other emergencies.

The issue is much narrower — and much harder to explain.

Goretti showed that serious coastal impacts can occur even when the established alarm criteria aren’t met. It showed how quickly roads can disappear beneath water and shingle, how substantial structures can be moved and how heavily councils can suddenly have to rely upon officers, contractors, emergency services and local knowledge.

Summer provided breathing space. That breathing space is ending.

The question isn’t why anyone is still talking about a storm which happened in January. The question is why, as Lydd moves towards another autumn and winter of uncertain weather, the local Community Resilience Plan FHDC says it should have still hasn’t been created.

The Shepway Vox Team

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