Youngsters lit 41 candles to mark the 69th anniversary of Britain’s biggest peacetime disaster when floodwaters wreaked havoc along the east coast.

A remembrance service was held at the Flood Memorial in Langer Road, Felixstowe, on Monday and each candle lit by students from the town's Langer Primary Academy represented one for each of the adults and children who died in Felixstowe.

The low-lying West End area saw floodwaters more than six feet deep as a tidal surge which swept south down the North Sea, fuelled by a deep depression over Scotland, broke through the banks of the River Orwell where the Port of Felixstowe stands today.

The water poured into homes, leaving those in prefabs and bungalows little route for escape and those in houses desperately dashing upstairs to seek safety.

About 800 acres – one fifth of the town – was flooded, including not just homes but part of the air base where the port now stands.

More than 300 people died in coastal towns and villages on a night of sheer terror in which 30,000 people were evacuated from their homes, sea defences were smashed, river walls breached, and thousands of acres of farmland left under water.

In Felixstowe, the 41 dead included whole families, 13 of them children. Many of them lived in prefabs in Orford Road, where the torrent of water ripped the buildings from their foundations and sent them sailing into Langer Road.

Rowing boats were commandeered from the Butlin’s fun park in Sea Road as the rescue operation began. The Cavendish Hotel – which stood where the Lions car boot site is today – was opened as an emergency reception and rest centre to help those who had lost everything.