I see that the EA have decided that the Boscastle flood is a once in 400
years event.

This despite the fact that there was an almost identical event in 1957. The
descriptions of the flood were very similar, a wall of water coming down the
valley into Boscastle. Possessions were washed out of properties down into
the sea. The main difference in 1957 being that there were not dozens of
vehicles being washed through the village, and hence less structural damage
to buildings. 203.2mm was recorded near Wadebridge, and at Tintagel the rain
gauge overflowed.

I wonder if full account was taken of the unusual number of extreme rainfall
events which take place just inland of the north Cornwall / north Devon
coast?

Graham

Penzance Weather www.easterling.freeserve.co.uk/weather.html

On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:30:37 -0000, "Graham Easterling"
wrote:

I see that the EA have decided that the Boscastle flood is a once in 400
years event.

This despite the fact that there was an almost identical event in 1957. The
descriptions of the flood were very similar, a wall of water coming down the
valley into Boscastle. Possessions were washed out of properties down into
the sea. The main difference in 1957 being that there were not dozens of
vehicles being washed through the village, and hence less structural damage
to buildings. 203.2mm was recorded near Wadebridge, and at Tintagel the rain
gauge overflowed.
And I guess no mass media to send pictures round the world.

"Mike Watson" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:30:37 -0000, "Graham Easterling"
wrote:

I see that the EA have decided that the Boscastle flood is a once in
400
years event.

This despite the fact that there was an almost identical event in
1957. The
descriptions of the flood were very similar, a wall of water coming
down the
valley into Boscastle. Possessions were washed out of properties down
into
the sea.

.... the town of my birth (Bude) further up the coast, has had notable
floods of property along the river in the following years (at least):
1894, 1903, 1958, 1959 & 1993.

With each event, the 'cost' (monetary and other) increased - the last
one caused a major re-think in the drainage engineering in the area.

The events were not all 'Boscastle' sudden-storm types (and the
topography of the hinterland is not quite so 'severe'), but the
end-effects were the same.

I wouldn't buy a property in the affected area of Boscastle.

Martin.

... the town of my birth (Bude) further up the coast, has had notable
floods of property along the river in the following years (at least):
1894, 1903, 1958, 1959 & 1993.

With each event, the 'cost' (monetary and other) increased - the last one
caused a major re-think in the drainage engineering in the area.

The events were not all 'Boscastle' sudden-storm types (and the topography
of the hinterland is not quite so 'severe'), but the end-effects were the
same.

I wouldn't buy a property in the affected area of Boscastle.

Martin.

I have a recollection that one of the later ones at Bude was made worse by
failure to us the flood defences correctly something to do with the Bude
canal. It is anecdotal and could easily be incorrect.

Alan

"Mike Watson" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:30:37 -0000, "Graham Easterling"
wrote:

I see that the EA have decided that the Boscastle flood is a once in 400
years event.

This despite the fact that there was an almost identical event in 1957.
The
descriptions of the flood were very similar, a wall of water coming down
the
valley into Boscastle. Possessions were washed out of properties down into
the sea. The main difference in 1957 being that there were not dozens of
vehicles being washed through the village, and hence less structural
damage
to buildings. 203.2mm was recorded near Wadebridge, and at Tintagel the
rain
gauge overflowed.
And I guess no mass media to send pictures round the world.

And for what bit of media there was, thankfully, the only thing they knew
about carbon dioxide was that animals gave it off when they breathed out,
plants took it in when they photosynthesised!

In article ,
Pete B writes:
"Mike Watson" wrote in message news:mhoau09r5cv
...
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:30:37 -0000, "Graham Easterling"
wrote:

I see that the EA have decided that the Boscastle flood is a once in 400
years event.

This despite the fact that there was an almost identical event in
1957. The
descriptions of the flood were very similar, a wall of water coming
down the
valley into Boscastle. Possessions were washed out of properties down into
the sea. The main difference in 1957 being that there were not dozens of
vehicles being washed through the village, and hence less structural
damage
to buildings. 203.2mm was recorded near Wadebridge, and at Tintagel
the rain
gauge overflowed.
And I guess no mass media to send pictures round the world.

And for what bit of media there was, thankfully, the only thing they
knew about carbon dioxide was that animals gave it off when they
breathed out, plants took it in when they photosynthesised!

I'm not sure that the media have really changed all that much. Wasn't
any unusual weather during the 1950s blamed on testing of nuclear
weapons?
--
John Hall
"Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history
that man can never learn anything from history."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

John Hall wrote:

I'm not sure that the media have really changed all that much. Wasn't
any unusual weather during the 1950s blamed on testing of nuclear
weapons?

My mother told me yesterday that someone in her "newspaper" (term used
loosely) claims that recent weather events are the result of the Apollo
space missions.
--
Steve Loft, Wanlockhead, Dumfriesshire. 1417ft ASL
http://www.wanlockhead.org.uk/weather/
Free weather softwa http://cumulus.nybbles.co.uk/
Experimental webcam: http://www.wanlockhead.org.uk/webcam.php

"John Hall" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Pete B writes:
"Mike Watson" wrote in message news:mhoau09r5cv
...
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:30:37 -0000, "Graham Easterling"
wrote:

I see that the EA have decided that the Boscastle flood is a once in 400
years event.

This despite the fact that there was an almost identical event in
1957. The
descriptions of the flood were very similar, a wall of water coming
down the
valley into Boscastle. Possessions were washed out of properties down
into
the sea. The main difference in 1957 being that there were not dozens of
vehicles being washed through the village, and hence less structural
damage
to buildings. 203.2mm was recorded near Wadebridge, and at Tintagel
the rain
gauge overflowed.
And I guess no mass media to send pictures round the world.

And for what bit of media there was, thankfully, the only thing they
knew about carbon dioxide was that animals gave it off when they
breathed out, plants took it in when they photosynthesised!

I'm not sure that the media have really changed all that much. Wasn't
any unusual weather during the 1950s blamed on testing of nuclear
weapons?

Yes, and in the 1970s the scientists finally admitted that a nuclear war
would cause a nuclear winter.

Cheers, Alastair.

In article ,
Alastair McDonald k
writes:

"John Hall" wrote in message
...

I'm not sure that the media have really changed all that much. Wasn't
any unusual weather during the 1950s blamed on testing of nuclear
weapons?

Yes, and in the 1970s the scientists finally admitted that a nuclear war
would cause a nuclear winter.

Yes, but such a nuclear war is something at least one order of magnitude
greater than the amount of nuclear tests conducted in the 1950s.
--
John Hall
"Hegel was right when he said that we learn from history
that man can never learn anything from history."
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

"John Hall" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Pete B writes:
"Mike Watson" wrote in message news:mhoau09r5cv
...
On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 17:30:37 -0000, "Graham Easterling"
wrote:

I see that the EA have decided that the Boscastle flood is a once in 400
years event.

This despite the fact that there was an almost identical event in
1957. The
descriptions of the flood were very similar, a wall of water coming
down the
valley into Boscastle. Possessions were washed out of properties down
into
the sea. The main difference in 1957 being that there were not dozens of
vehicles being washed through the village, and hence less structural
damage
to buildings. 203.2mm was recorded near Wadebridge, and at Tintagel
the rain
gauge overflowed.
And I guess no mass media to send pictures round the world.

And for what bit of media there was, thankfully, the only thing they
knew about carbon dioxide was that animals gave it off when they
breathed out, plants took it in when they photosynthesised!

I'm not sure that the media have really changed all that much. Wasn't
any unusual weather during the 1950s blamed on testing of nuclear
weapons?

I'm not sure about any specific weather events, the '50's were too early for
me to remember anyway but during a discussion I was having with my father on
Global Warming last year, I did ask him whether there had been exactly
that - any blame put on nuclear testing for unusual weather events then. He
didn't remember any specific ones but did say that there were, as now with
CO2, fears of general climate change if it went on.

The one I do remember reading afterwards was the inevitable link with the
1963 winter and nuclear testing (in a similar way to the 2003 summer and
anthropogenic CO2 induced global warming) but a detailed analytical review I
read on that winter in an old Meteorological Magazine (from about 1968 IIRC)
many years ago concluded with the fact that such a winter was to be expected
as an extreme event very occasionally and therefore no specific cause had to
be linked to it.

I have read the link in Alastairs post further down and while interesting
and reasoned science, I am not convinced, mainly because the temporary
cooling began before fusion (H) bombs had been developed and didn't stop
until the mid 1970's, long after atmospheric testing (and therefore any
associated stratospheric pollution) had ceased. As the article rightly says,
fission (A) bombs were simply not powerful enough to inject material into
the stratosphere so there could not have been any contribution from nukes
until the 1950's, if any at all.

--
Pete

Please take my dog out twice to e-mail

---------------------------------------------------------------
The views expressed above are entirely those of the writer and
do not represent the views, policy or understanding of any
other person or official body.
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