This is a video of the day surge in March at the high tide point. The height of the water had dropped about 4″ when this was filmed even though the tide was still coming in at a rate of knots! It’s filmed at Bridgwater Docks’ Entrance. This previous post contains pictures shot at the same time.
There was a second night-time surge that day and the water was about a metre higher (see pictures of water next to path edge).
Both surges were due to the unusually high spring tide combined with four days of constant gale force westerlies in the Atlantic Ocean pushing the water up the funnel shaped Bristol Channel, which on it’s own, has the second highest tidal range in the world (the River Parrett is included in this). <most people are shocked when they first come to Bridgwater and can actually see with their own eyes how far the water levels change on a twice daily basis.
In the event, it wasn’t the biggest storm surge OR the highest tide we’ve had (that was a few years back and the next isn’t due until we’re all long dead), however, the embankments were originally made for a 200 year event, and the planners are now finding that the extremes of weather are occurring much more often than originally anticipated, so hopefully Bridgwater’s sea defences will be raised in time or else it’s “goodbye stinky piss shop”!
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