Lynmouth & Exmoor Floods Remembered....
Earlier this morning, on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Points West and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Somerset, I mentioned how today (and more specifically, last night)Ìý that took in Lynmouth, North Devon, and surrounding districts across Exmoor.
The disaster came after an exceptionally wet start across the region during August 1952, culminating in a severe and prolonged thunderstorm raging above Exmoor throughout the late afternoon, evening and early night. The cumulative rainfall was truly exceptional; it allÌýran immediately off the already saturated moorland and cascaded with massive force and destructionÌýthrough the wooded, steep valley catchments of the East and West Lyn. In Barbrook, Watersmeet and ultimately where the rivers joined at Lynmouth, death came suddenly in pitch darkness,Ìýperiodically illuminated by the frequent lightning.
The resultant terror,Ìýcombining tales of human tragedy and astonishing bravery, , soÌýreally requireÌýno duplication on this blog.
A few weeks ago, I was very privileged to interview one of the last survivors of that awful night, Ken Oxenholme. His original story wasÌýrecorded this very day by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ exactlyÌý58 years ago.
If you want to hear his thoughts of the eventÌýnow, 58 years laterÌý(and I certainly did), watch Wild Weather of the West, on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ ONE, 7.30pm, Monday September 20th.Ìý
I'm Ian Fergusson, a ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Weather Presenter based in the West Country. From benign anticyclones to raging supercell storms, my blog discusses all manner of weather-related issues. I also provide updated race weekend forecasts tied to our ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ coverage of Formula One. You can follow me on , too.
Comment number 1.
At 17th Aug 2010, Alan Curphey wrote:Re Lynmouth floods, I was there as a 12 year old, on holiday staying in a small hotel, at the side of, and over-looking the river that flooded, at the time the flooding started I was in the room that my parents where in as they were getting ready for our evening meal.
The first sign there was a problem I spotted from the window, and it was several hours before dark when it first started. Outside I could see the river was starting to be a torrent and I said to them the rived was much deeper than usual, and then the river was starting to flow over a small pedestrian bridge outside the window, and I was keeping up a running commentary about this how much worse it was getting, and then the bridge went, this was the first and far from last casualty of the evening and night of course. The bank we were sited on only had about ten houses on to the upstream end of the village, and I believe 7 people ended up dead in these houses. After that the damage got much worse as the buildings opposite started to collapse, and for a considerable time it was like pictures you see of bomb damage with walls collapsing, and being able to see into rooms, that for a time still had lights on., and then the next bridge went, this was the one that carried the main road into and through the town of Lynmouth. There is more I can tell if you want
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Comment number 2.
At 17th Aug 2010, Ian Fergusson ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Weather wrote:Hello Alan,
Thanks ever so much for sharing such vivid memories with us all here on the blog - it's greatly appreciated.
The houses you describe being washed-away are almost certainly those at Watersmeet, just upstream from Lynmouth's centre on the East Lyn. Sadly - as you mention - the destruction of those properties cost a number of lives, as did the similarly catastrophic (and very sudden) collapse of a row of houses upstream on the West Lyn, in the little hamlet of Barbrook.
The properties destroyed at the river's elbow at Watersmeet were never re-built and are now marked by a small memorial garden, I believe. Up at Barbrook, the surviving houses from the semi-detached row largely destroyed that night do still stand today. In the same general area along the West Lyn catchment, signs of landslips - as well as some of the massive boulders lying within the river itself - are testimony to that terrible night and the enormous forces brought to bear on properties, vehicles and people swept-away in the torrent.
The many small bridges you also describe played a key role in the disaster. Sequentially, many formed temporary dams - choked by trees, boulders and other debris - causing considerable water retention before suddenly failing and sending huge waves down the rivers, adding to their destructive impact in Lynmouth.
TV footage of the much more recent event at Boscastle, bearing various similarities to the Lynmouth flash-flooding, perhaps offers the rest of us just a mere snippet of how perilous and terrifying it must have been for you and others that stormy night. Once Lynmouth's unique hydroelectric station eventually failed as conditions worsened, the only glimmers of brief illumination in the torrential rain came from the frequent lightning flashes. It's one of the overwhelming memories I hear repeated routinely from those who survived: the surreal strobing of light offering glimpses of the raging waters; boulders crashing into hotels; people screaming from windows; cars floating past before sinking from view.
Few people alive in this country will have ever witnessed - nor will probably ever witness - British severe weather and it's effects on the scale you did, Alan.
Very best wishes
Ian
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Comment number 3.
At 31st Aug 2010, Paul_Michael_Jones_Llanrwst wrote:This is old news
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