Storm Event

'the water, the water – for God’s sake, get up, Sir.'

Severity ? 4

Source

A very violent wind came from the southwest on the evening of 12 November and triggered the highest flood that has ever been known to occur (Boza, 2018).

Pathway

There was report of the sea overtopping the street and a breach in the bank over flat grass and on the beach (Boza, 2018). Hurst Spit was breached near the Seagrass Lane resulting in the highest flood known at Keyhaven (West, 2019).

Receptor and Consequence

There was flooding in Pagham Harbour (Hickey, 1997). Coastal flooding was also reported from Southampton, Portsmouth, and Lymington. In Southampton, streets were flooded with a depth of 5 feet and became impassable, the sea was breaking with violence over buses on the streets, and these started to drift; however, there was no people injured. In Portsmouth, lower part of towns and houses were flooded to 5 or 6 feet of water and people solicited help. In Lymington, marshes were flooded and houses were some feet deep in water. The water at the dock yards was higher than previously known. In Spithead, many metres of land were swallowed by the sea (Boza, 2018). In Keyhaven, all the houses were flooded (West, 2019).

Summary Table

Loss of life *
Residential property In Portsmouth, houses were flooded to 5 or 6 feet of water. In Lymington, houses were flooded some feet deep water. In Keyhaven, houses were flooded.
Evacuation & Rescue *
 
Cost *
Ports *
Transport Streets in Southampton were impassable due to 5 feet deep water.
Energy *
Public services *
Water & wastewater *
Livestock *
Agricultural land *
 
Coastal erosion In Spithead, many metres of land were swallowed by the sea.
Natural environment Marshes were flooded in Lymington.
Cultural heritage *
Coastal defences Hurst Spit breached.

*No known sources of information available

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References

  1. Boza, X. (2018). The Reconstruction and Analysis of Historical Coastal Flood Events from 1800’s in the Solent, UK. Southampton MSc Dissertation.
  2. West, Ian. M. (2019). ‘Chesil Beach: Storms and Floods’. Geology of the Wessex Coast of Southern England. [Online]. Available at: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/chestorm.htm (Accessed: 3 July, 2019).
  3. Hickey, K. R. (1997). Documentary records of coastal storms in Scotland, 1500-1991 A.D. Coventry University. Available at: https://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/file/aa6dfd04-d53f-4741-1bb7-bdf99fb153be/1/hick1comb.pdf.