I was in something very similar to Boscastle and Lynmouth in the upper Rhone
area of the Alps in 1974 and was able to recently write about this awe
inspiring experience for primary aged children as part of the Literacy Hour
for the National Curriculum. My message to them was never underestimate the
power of the elements. The cacophony of noise produced by cars, parts of
buildings, trees etc being swept along by a maelstrom of mud coloured water
is something I will never forget.
I am soon going back to visit the area 30 years on after being evacuated
from it to see how it has recovered. In fact I shall be staying at a place
that was devastated by another even worse flood of catastrophic proportions
on the 24th September 1993. You can imagine the flow when the hills of
Cornwall are replaced by 3500 metre high mountains and 200 mm of rain
overnight on top of glacier and snow melt. I am though not going to be
situated on the valley floor!

Ian Currie- Coulsdon
www.frostedearth.com


"Philip Eden" philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote in message
...
Yesterday's disaster reminds us what a flash flood really is.

To use the expression to describe 12 inches of water under
the local railway bridge after a heavy shower is as daft --
even dafter, I reckon -- than the ubiquitous mini-tornado.

Philip Eden