Thousands of people from the east coast of England were advised to leave their homes as the Environment Agency launched a warning of flooding due to a storm in the North Sea.

According to the EA flood defenses in Norfolk and Suffolk may not cope.

Thursday night hundreds of people were evacuated.

The Agency said 7,500 people had been advised to leave their homes in the port of Great Yarmouth, but flood warnings were also raised in the southern county of Kent, and in the north in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Thursday night Thames and Dartford Creek barriers were closed as a measure of protection against a tidal surge of 3 meters that could coincide with peak high tides.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown chaired on Thursday night an emergency meeting and the EA gave eight warnings of flooding, the Guardian Unlimited reports.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said in a statement to the Commons that there is a threat of serious flooding in the next 48 hours. He also talked about the actions taken to cope with the situation: “There are RAF helicopters on standby, fire service pumps are going to be moved into East Anglia, the Environment Agency obviously has got people on patrol.” He added that there’s a risk for the flood defenses to be over-topped on the coast mainly in east of England and the south coast of Great Yarmouth like Lowestoft.

According to Norfolk police Thursday night people living the low areas were evacuated including patients at Northgate Hospital and 200 people in care homes.

This situation is similar with the one in 1953 when a 3.2 meter surge lead to a flood that claimed 300 lives in the East of England.

According to the sayings of a Met Office spokesman the storm is due to the geography of the North Sea because is narrower and shallower in south.