{"id":278705,"date":"2023-09-14T14:10:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T12:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=278705"},"modified":"2023-09-14T14:10:17","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T12:10:17","slug":"1953-floods-and-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=278705","title":{"rendered":"1953 Floods And\u00a0Drought"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-lincolnshire-64414388<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As you know, I like sometimes to go back in history and recall some of the extreme weather we used to have then. It is always a sobering experience, and puts into perspective the hype we get nowadays about every bit of bad weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that I cannot be accused of cherry picking, I always go back in tens of years, so this post is devoted to 1953.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should come as no surprise that I start with the Great North Sea Flood, which the BBC recalled earlier this year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the night of 31 January 1953, a wall of water surged from the North Sea, over-topping sea defences and leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A massive storm brought devastation to the east coast of England and claimed more than 300 lives, including 43 in Lincolnshire, 26 of whom were aged over 70.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is widely regarded as one of the worst peacetime disasters to hit the country in the last century.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Badly hit though England was, the death toll in the Netherlands was far worse, killing more than 1800.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few months later, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth took place in the middle of what the late Philip Eden<\/a> described as the worst June weather of the century, so wet and cold was it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towards the end of the month, thunderstorms brought severe flooding. At Eskdalemuir 80mm of rain fell in 30 minutes, still a record for the UK:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
https:\/\/digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk\/SO_117f3d90-8d43-4b42-945b-700e0cbcfa3d\/<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the\u00a0US,<\/a>\u00a0Major floods occurred in four areas during 1953: western Oregon and northwestern California, Louisiana and adjacent States, the Missouri River basin in Montana, and northwestern Iowa:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
https:\/\/www.usgs.gov\/publications\/summary-floods-united-states-during-1953<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Japan also experienced two major flooding events that summer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1953_Northern_Kyushu_flood<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1953_Wakayama_flood<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Drought<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some parts of the USA were being inundated, others were in the middle of years long severe droughts, notably Texas and California:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Droughts_in_the_United_States#1950s<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow we\u2019ll look at hurricanes and tornadoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the night of 31 January 1953, a wall of water surged from the North Sea, over-topping sea defences and leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":278720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691822600,691822599,691819380,691819026,691819908,691822601],"class_list":{"0":"post-278705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-1953-major-floods-usa","9":"tag-1953-north-sea-flood","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-japan","12":"tag-netherlands","13":"tag-texas-and-california-drought","15":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/0c57652c1132aa5a2c565e776549488ec.jpg?fit=1024%2C737&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1avf","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":254778,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=254778","url_meta":{"origin":278705,"position":0},"title":"EM-DAT Miss The Great North Sea Floods Of 1953","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"26\/04\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"How on earth does a catastrophe like this get missed by EM-DAT?","rel":"","context":"In \"Britain\"","block_context":{"text":"Britain","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=britain"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0_65558533_canveyhouses.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0_65558533_canveyhouses.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0_65558533_canveyhouses.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0_65558533_canveyhouses.jpg?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":284933,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=284933","url_meta":{"origin":278705,"position":1},"title":"What Caused Severe Floods In The 1950s, Sky\u00a0News?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"25\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Great floods of 1953 The number of bad floods per year did increase from about three in the late 19th century to more than 20 in the early 21st. 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