A suspected tsunami in the Bristol Channel which killed 2,000 people and devastated Burnham-On-Sea 400 years ago on Tuesday (January 30th) is being remembered this week.
According to historical records, the severe flooding on 30th January 1607 was caused by a tsunami – and not simply a storm surge or high tides. It is estimated 200 square miles of land were covered by water.
The breaking of the sea banks at Burnham-On-Sea led to some 30 local villages being utterly inundated, and their cattle destroyed.
The accounts state that 28 people were drowned at Huntspill and 26 at Brean – a death toll that was repeated in many other villages.
Eyewitness accounts of the disaster told of “huge and mighty hills of water” advancing at a speed “faster than a greyhound can run”.
BBC local radio has been marking the event with interviews of local people who remember Burnham’s 1981 storm.
Pictured above: A wood cutting from a 1607 pamphlet shows the devastation the water caused
RELATED LINK:
1607 flood – the historical evidence
Burnham’s 1607 flood to be focus of BBC2 TV documentary
