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 The old Cornish Stores shop | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Date | 16 August 2004 |
| Overall effects | |
| Damage | Extensive |
| Areas affected | Boscastle; Crackington Haven |
The 2004 Boscastle flood (Cornish: An Lanwes Kastel Boterel 2004) occurred on Monday 16 August 2004 in the two villages of Boscastle and Crackington Haven[1] in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The villages suffered extensive damage after flash floods caused by an exceptional amount of rain that fell over eight hours that afternoon. The flood in Boscastle was filmed and extensively reported, but the floods in Crackington Haven and Rocky Valley were not mentioned beyond the local news. The floods were the worst in local memory. A study commissioned by the Environment Agency from hydraulics consulting firm HR Wallingford concluded that it was among the most extreme ever experienced in Britain. The peak flow was about 140 m3/s, between 5:00 pm and 6:00 pm BST. The annual chance of this (or a greater) flood in any one year is about 1 in 400.[2] The probability each year of the heaviest three-hour rainfall is about 1 in 1300 (although rainfall probability is not the same as flood probability). At midday on 16 August 2004, heavy thundery showers had developed across the South West due to a weak disturbance to the northeast of the United Kingdom.[3]
The last time Boscastle had suffered notable flooding was in 1996 as a result of Hurricane Lili, but floods are recorded in 1847, 1957, on 3 June 1958 (one man drowned) and on 6 February during the Winter of 1962–63 in the United Kingdom. On 16 August 1952, 52 years to the day before Boscastle's 2004 flood, the small town of Lynmouth, 50 miles (80 km) north-east along the north coast in Devon near Exmoor, suffered extensive damage in a catastrophic flood, in which 34 people lost their lives.
- ^ "Crackington Haven". cornwall365.co.uk. Cornwall 365. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
- ^ Ross, S.R.J. (2012). AQA GCSE Geography A. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-4085-1708-6.
- ^ "17 August 2004 surface analysis". Institute of Meteorology. Free University of Berlin. Retrieved 4 April 2012.