Mark Pilcher from the Environment Agency said thewaterwas currently rising at a rate which is "faster than the pumps could manage" and that there was a risk "a small amount may be discharged".
There will undoubtedly be wrangling between insurance adjusters, homeowners and the feds over what water damage was due to the storm, and what is attributable to therising flood.
He said based on projections allowing for increased settlement, water extraction and rising sea levels, the barrier was built to withstand a one-in-1, 000-year North Sea surge occurring by 2030.
Because this was a reactor that operated on water that was already at its boiling point, this also meant that the pressure inside the reactor wasrising as well.