A WOMAN from Upchurch has recalled the most catastrophic floods to hit the county in living memory on the 50th anniversary of the 1953 disaster.

Marjorie Davies, 76, of Horsham Lane, said: "I was listening to the radio at about 11am and heard a ferry had sunk in the Irish Sea and there were floods at Canvey Island in Essex so I tried to get to my father's cowshed at Bayford Farm up the road in Poot Lane.

"But there was seaweed and water across the lane so I had to turn back. We then found out that my father Charles Barling was utterly distraught because all 19 cows in the shed had been washed away and drowned because the sea wall had been breached off nearby Colts Field and water was lapping over the sea defences as well.

"Everyone was put out of work overnight and my father's life's work had gone. We couldn't get to the dead animals for a fortnight because of all the flooded fields which then became covered in salt after the water receded."

Mrs Davies' youngest of four brothers, Phillip, still farms at Bayford Farm and her son John is sales manager for Seat car dealers Grays in St Michael's Road, Sittingbourne.