Boscastle, a conspiracy by the elements?

Some 3,500 miles from Boscastle, or at least the remains of Boscastle Village and harbor my heart and prayers go out to those who lived and worked in the village so severely destroyed by a wall of water this week.

3,500 miles away today, I was engaged in a conversation with a colleague that in summary the point was how can two inches of rainfall create so much havoc, besides doesn't it rain all the time in England?

It is an interesting perspective and having some understanding of the mechanics of the water table and an appreciation for summer rainfall in New Jersey and Pennsylvania can offer some insight.

Boscastle is located in one of the most picturesque points along the northern coastline of Cornwall. To those needing a little more orientation, it is the pointed end in the south west corner, Boscastle is one of those little retreats, tucked out of the way not accosted by the trappings of commercial seaside towns like Minehead some way further to the east along the coastline in Somerset. For those looking for a slice of England's England, unchanged complete with local shops, a pub and a small harbor for the village fishing fleet that long since served as the main industry in favor of tourism you have some idea. A village with a narrow blacktop road leading alongside a pretty river towards the sea nestled in a green and pleasant valley.

The summer has been unseaonable wet, those in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the States located to the north and north east will testify that the summer weather patten has been similar here.

The water table has natuarally risen in the hills nestling Boscastle, that is to say the level of water underground has from all the rain increased to a level that the ground is waterlogged and cannot absorb any further rainfall. One practical example of this is to compare the level of water in a well in the summer and winter, the water level changes in the same way the water table changes. Different ground conditions can vary the level of the water table so that in any given area the height of the water table can vary significantly. Regardless of this lesson thie important fact is that the hills surrounding Boscastle had a limited capacity to absorb the two inches of rainfall that fell in the area in two hours. This matched the average rainfall in the area for the whole month in two hours.

While it certainly does seem to rain, or drizzle for more time than it seems to be dry or sunny in England, a popular misconception by visitors to the UK. The rain and drizzle while makes for damp and some may say miserable conditions, is not effective rainfall. The concept of an inch of more falling is unusual at least, while in the US summer storms can drop significantly more rainfall, creating flash floods that are reasonably well predicited ahead of time.

With the rain having no place to run off, the ground water simply used gravity to roll down the hillsides into the pituresque rivers that joined together and trickled normally next to the road past the village and into harbor and the sea.

The valley became a natural ditch, a one way for all the rain to channel and as more tain fell the wall of water reportedly nine feet deep swept down both rivers, joined to the south of the village and together ploughed thorugh the valley floor lifting and destroying everything in its path.

This was a rare example of the sheer power of mother nature in England.

Could the Boscasatle disaster have been averted? Probably not, the circumstances that led to the wall of water may be listed as a one in a 500 or 1000 year storm. Normally the hillsides have the capacity to absorb rainfall and that groundwater which runs off into the river has the capacity to flow at a higher level but safely into the sea. Boscastle is an old village, but the existing buildings are not so old to have seen a 1000 year old storm and possibly not even a 500 year flood.

Much of the coastline of Cornwall is owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, aka Prince Charles. I was pleased to see that he was one of the first to the village and that the Ducy Trust will make a significant contribution that remains undisclosed at this time towards the rebuilding of the village.

Most likely the buildings will all be found unsafe by the structural engineers. Sadly a twee cornish village will be rebuilt with modern building methods and will look less like its other cornish village neighbors. Time will tell.

Meanwhile in the US we are in Hurricane Season, Friday the 13th saw Hurricane Charley hit the west coast of Florida, landing close to Fort Myers with winds in excesss of 120 MPH. I have a volunteer who lives very close to Fort Myers and his home still stands, but he is one of the lucky ones, others in his town are flattened, homes lost, lives ruined and as of yesterday fifteen lives losts. It was not easy to read his email to me to ask if our organization could send food and water. The American Red Cross and other aid agencies were already on the ground doing what they do best in very trying circumstances.

Other reports close to Venice Beach report that the locals are protecting the remains of their homes with guns and rifles to prevent looting. Other areas were pelted with heavy rainfall, hail and highwinds before Hurricane Charley headed north and east to be down graded to a tropical storm. By the time in reach PA / NJ it was away off to the east in the Atlantic, with only summer rainfall refreshing our streets and gardens.

The national US News reporting from neighborhoods in Florida destroyed by Charley only offer a glimse into the power and terror of a hurricane. My thoughts are with those tonight who are still without power, water, food, and in many cases a roof tyo sleep under that is called home.

It has been some 12 years since anything like Charley has been seen in Florida. Then Floridians rebuilt and continued their lives. This time will be the same. Floridians know the drill, understand the risks and balance this against the beautiful seasonless weather all year around.


Florida and Boscastle, two very different disasters zones, united in resolve to move on after the fury of mother nature.