Minehead lifeboat men a 'tremendous help' during floods The crew of Minehead's lifeboats and the station's shore helpers all came in for praise when some of the worst storms in living memory battered the north Somerset town for four days in late January.

Although the town's lifeboats were not used on this occasion (RNLI inshore lifeboats have been used inland!) the lifeboatmen were able to help residents put up sandbags, barricade windows and clear drains which became blocked with seaweed as the wind stayed onshore, from the east through to north-east, for successive high waters.

The local 'West Somerset Free Press' remarked that 'the town's lifeboat crews turned out to help in the battle even though they were not officially summoned' and also quoted the spokesman for the residents of one of the hardest hit area, Quay Street, as saying: 'the lifeboatmen gave tremendous help' during the emergency, adding that 'they have an affinity with the people who live here'.

The lifeboat house, further along Quay Street, did not suffer any damage..