By James Simons-
Three boats washed off shore in Thorpe Bay, Essex due to Hurricane Francis on Tuesday night will cost thousands of pounds to repair, according to coast guards.
As strong winds battered the Uk throughout the night of Tuesday and early hours of Wednesday morning, damage was caused to three boats than run from Thorpe Bay to Southend On Sea in Essex.
Coast guards rushed to the scene in Thorpe Bay to temporary contain the problem, but said it would cost thousands to fix the damage done to the boats.. The winds remained very strong in the morning as the damage was being assessed.
One of the boats washed offshore Image: The eye of media.com
Later on Wednesday, coast guards in Southend On Sea were called to reports of concerns for 2 persons who were observed to walk out into the darkness towards the sea 2hrs before low tide west of Southend Pier. Southend Coastguard Rescue officers made there way to station for kitting up in PPE only to discover that the first informant had left the scene and was no longer contactable.
A 3 hour hour search produced nothing as coast guards explored the approximate 3.5miles of coastline between Southend Pier and Leigh on Sea searching for the two persons were spotted.
The Southend Hovercraft was eventually launched, and started a search east of Southend Pier speaking to local bait diggers along the way who confirmed they had not seen anyone venture out in their locale.
Dover Coastguard then ordered for the Southend Hovercraft to fire a white illuminating parachute flare to light up the locale to assist the search, but nothing was seen or heard.
After a thorough search of the areas east and west of Southend Pier involving Southend Coastguard, RNLI and Southend Pier watchman and, with no evidence of any belongings or sign of persons that had walked out onto the flats.