UK Storm surge in N Sea and English Channel

Just got back from a victuals supply run…yikes…snow plough/gritters are out and the hail/snow was going past somewhat faster than I could drive… 8O 8O…Back now, so I have passed the 1st survival test of this Autumn…it is still Autumn/fall isn’t it??..

I hope that the Storm Surge does not come to much…not a nice prospect if you are on low lying land near the coast…fingers crossed for it all to abate quickly…

North Rona reported 108 mph gust this morning and I got 57 knots (65 mph) here.
I went up to the most Northern point of the island at around 10am this morning and took these:

This was taken from 25m ASL and the rock this wave hit is about 30m ASL!!

This one is at a beach called Dal Beg on the West coast of the island and the rainbow was a prelude to a horizontal hail squall that pushed me back to the car.

I’ve been watching the storm surge develop since last night and it could be quite serious for the Southeast of England and Holland.
BBC News Report

Pretty ‘hairy’ Budgie
Recorded 50.5 knt here at midday (58.9 mph) and it has gusted at about 40/45 mph much of the afternoon.

Storm surges down the North sea , because if the depth and funnel shape, tend to build up much more as they move towards the English channel.
This was the cause of much severe and serious flooding in the early 50s

Sicerely hope there is no repeat of that event.

Looks like a bad one 8O

Nice graphics in this article for those of us not familiar with the geography.

Wow! Great pictures budgie.

Our high tide tomorrow is about 11:05am with Margate about 45 minutes later so we will have to wait and see.

Margate and places along the N Kent coast towards Whitstable and then on up the Thames Estuary have quite a lot of low lying areas but there are sea defences so it could get close if we do get the 9ft plus worst case. Here at Broadstairs we are higher up so only about 3 houses, four shops, one restaurant and one pub are at risk at the harbour end of Harbour Street. Again further down the coast towards Ramsgate Sandwich and Deal there are more places at risk because they are low lying. Once you get to Dover and beyond the geography changes are the English Channel widens out so any surge dissipates quite quickly.

The tidal flow aggravates any surge as the current is from south to north as the tide rises which is why we are always wary of northerly winds when spring tides are upon us, even if there is no surge like this time.

So far the max wind gust I’ve recorded is 40.3 mph, so its not as bad down here as it has been up north.

Stuart

Spectacular pictures Budgie.

We are a few miles from Wells-next-the-sea, Norfolk (and 250 feet higher - phew). Its been issued with a Flood Warning (not a Severe FW like Yarmounth and area) BUT nearly 6 hours after the last high tide (ie when it should be at its lowest point) its only dropped 6 feet or so in the harbour. See the webcams at http://www.wellsharbour.co.uk/. The tides this week are predicted to be in the 8m+ range! This smacks of the extensive east coast floods of 1953. Another test for the sea defences, or at least those places that still have them maintained.

We got a little bit today inland, around 2:07 the temp drop about 4oC and had over 2mm of rain in the space of about 5 mins, the wind hit 25.2mph (my all time record) so nothing too great here.

Then at 9:02pm i got my second all time record wind gust at 31.1mph but nothing as drastic with the temps like earlier… I couldnt beleive it the way it just turned, she was just getting out of the car as well to come into the house, i erm slowly walked to the door to let her in psml… she look like a drowned cat :lol:

No, it doesn’t seems serious for the next coming hours here. We have a coast alarm / dike guarding at south and north but with max 9 Bft (from 12), highest sea level at about 1.30h (in half an hour from now).
What it makes curios is the fact it wasn’t necessary last 31 years in such a great area (north + south) to give an alarm.
The red arias (see att) have the alarm situation (we had it at 18.00h in the NW) so I can go to sleep :wink:

Nice pictures Budgie (they advice people here not to go out ! 8))


Thanks for the comments on the photos All.
There are some on CLOUD News with a wee article. :smiley:

Wise words indeed Ed.
I was very careful this morning and stayed in my car for all of the photos with the exception of the one on the beach, and even then I was nowhere near the sea. It’s all too easy to get caught out in these conditions so it’s safety first, photos last. :wink:

I also enjoyed the pictures!

I see they closed the Thames Barrier… I didn’t think that was supposed to happen very often…!

It’s open at the moment but due to be closed in the next hour again as the peak surge is yet to hit down here.

Stuart

Well, this mornings high tide (~6am) at Well-next-the-sea has passed without much drama. The sea just came over the top of the harbour wall but not much more than a Spring tide does. In fact it is well on its way out now, suggesting the surge has passed us. No reports of flood damage in this area either, but the worst of it was forecast to be further east and south anyway.

As for the wind, I measured a max gust of 26mph overnight (although we are a little sheltered here) and its only averaging about 7mph now.

Hopefully its underperformed the forecast for other parts of the south east coasts too.

The gusts kept up at about 45mph until soon after 0600 this morning. They’ve eased off to <20mph now. Looks like heavy rain heading this way for this afternoon.

I was living in East Anglia in 1953 when we had a major tidal surge. It was frightening and there were no warnings in those days.

Light snow here last night down to about 200ft above msl. ( sent down by Munrobaggins? :wink:)This is normal here mid/late November.
The wind gusts yesterday made driving a nightmare - waiting for high sided trucks being blown across the dual carriageway.

Poor little puppy (13 weeks old Lhasa Apso bitch ) was puzzled and frightenened. Didn’t know which way to face to deal with the ‘needs of nature’.

All seems to have passed off quietly down here in Kent today. Yes we had a spectacular tide today but no damage to houses etc, however a few stored beach huts and a couple of boats in the boat park did get damaged but that’s all.

Stuart

There are a few photos I took today during the high tide at Broadstairs up on my web site, you can find them here if anyone is interested.

Stuart

Nice 1 Stuart, some great images there, I cannot believe that Ice Cream parlour is still standing 8O
The hight of the wave after hitting the wall was brill :slight_smile:

Till tonight should be quiet here but the Delta-doors keeps shut.


maeslantkering.jpg

Delta-doors? Tried that on Google and didn’t find anything other than door manufactures.

–Dave

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Works :wink: