Flash flood history Thames Hydrometric Rivers Tributaries Towns and Cities area 37 Roding Inglebourn, Beam 38 Lee Mimram, Bean, Rib, Ash, Stort, Turkey Brook 39 Upper Thames Swill, Churn Coln, Leach, Ray, Cole, Windrush, Swindon, Cirencester, Cricklade Witney Cherwell Evenlode, Sor, Ray Charlbury, Chipping Norton, Oxford Ock Childray Brook, Thame Abingdon Kennet Og, Dun, Lambourn, Enbourne, Pang Hungerford, Newbury, Reading Blackwater Loddon, Whitewater, Hart Basingstoke, Farnborough, Aldershot Wey Tillingbourne Petersfield, Farnham, Guildford, Woking, Chertsey Mole Ver, Gade, Chess, Misbourne, Reigate, Dorking, Leatherhead Colne Crane, Wandle Brent Date and Rainfall Description sources 12 Jul 1233 Doe Doe notes that this is one <Waverley> (Near Farnham): ‘A terrible tempest beyond precedent raged. Stone bridges and walls were broken (2016) (Annals of the earliest flash flood down and destroyed, rooms and all the offices were violently tumbled together and even at the new monastery accounts to mention of Waverley, inundation levels and note there was flooding in several places to a height of 8 feet. Damage and inconvenience in the same house was Luard 1865) economic loss. such that in the buildings in which manifold things both interior and exterior were lost, no one is able or certain to value them’. 13 Aug 1604 <London>: thunderstorm with great rain and hail caused many cellars to be flooded. Stow Annals Jones et al 1984 3 Jun 1661 <London>: A great rain shower caused flooding in Colman Street and other places. The water rose 4 feet high. Townshend’s diary Jones et al 1984 25 Jun 1662 <London>: So violent a tempest of hail and rain as no man in this age has seen, the hail being in some places 5 Evelyn Diaries or 6 inches about 26 Jul 1666 Hail ‘as big as walnuts’ fell in <London> and on 27th on the <Suffolk> coast. Lamb 1964 31 May 1682 <Oxford>: Meaden quotes an extract form a first-hand account which describes an increase in level in a ‘round Meaden and uniform vessel’ which rose 2 feet during the storm. Weather Sep 1979 31 Jul 1718 <London>: Thunderstorm: Several buildings were set on fire and much damage was done to warehouses and Stamford cellars particularly in Westminster by the excessive rain which overflowed the streets. Various places were mercury 7 Aug mentioned including St James’s, Piccadilly, the road from <Uxbridge> to <London>. Injuries were sustained by lightning but not deaths were reported. 26 Jun 1736 <Bisley> in <Surrey> on 26th the storm came with such rapidity that the waters rose so high in a few minutes in Caledonian the lower end of the town that the inhabitants were obliged to take themselves to their chambers for safety. It Mercury 13 Jul also did great damage to corn in fields. Hail also fell at <Chudwell> in Wiltshire, several inches round, destroying Ipswich Jour 3 almost all the corn. [Flood damage in the following weeks was widespread with severe flooding from the Jul <<Severn>>, <<Trent>> and in <Oxford>. A bridge over the <<Avon>> at< Pershore> was washed away]. Derby Mercury <Owney> in <Bucks>: Two boys keeping cows in a field when lightning struck one of them dead and the other 15 Jul speechless. (Severe floods were experienced in Flanders). <Oxfordshire>: Much damage was done by the late rains; the river seemed floating with haycocks. People had to be rescued by boats. 25 Jul 1738 Hail was from 5 to 9 <Dunstable> <Beds>: A thunderstorm with hail caused a house to be shattered. The hailstones were as big as Derby Mercury inches in walnuts. 3 Aug, Dr circumference in <Coney> nr <St Albans>: Hailstones fell, most as big as pigeon’s eggs and some as big as hen’s eggs; some Wintringham Herts, Wilts etc measured 5 or 6 inches about. The hail broke windows and killed fowls. and Dr Short in Derby Mercury <Uxbridge>: Thunderstorm with hail that broke many windows in the town and split tiles and wounded 1 Aug 1877 passengers (many with bloody hands and faces) and horses on the road; tearing large branches off the trees. (Dr Short Birds were struck dead in the air and fowls were killed. The storm continued for about a quarter of an hour and Chronological was felt for a mile and a half around. Some hailstones measured eight or nine inches round. History) It was violent at <Islip> in <Oxfordshire> and also at <Marlborough> and <Newbury> whilst at Reading it caused much damage to houses and windows. 20 May 1739 <Windsor>: A thunderstorm with hail and large flakes of ice 3 ½ inches long and 1 inch thick. Gentleman’s mag. 15 Jul 1743 <Enfield>: Hailstones fell as big as nutmegs broke windows and laid corn for several miles around. A boy and Kearsley British two horses were struck dead by lightning Chronologist in Hull advertiser 20 Jun 1834 27 Apr 1749 <Eve Elm> in Oxfordshire: A thunderstorm caused the earth on ploughed land to be carried away down to the Gentlemans gravel. Furniture was swept away in houses. mag. 15 May 1749 <Chesham> and <Amersham> (Bucks): There were such violent rains that both downs appeared like a sea. Gentlemans (Large hail occurred in Derbyshire killing birds etc.). Mag, Derby The rains were so violent as to half fill the cellars. Mercury 17 Oct 1877 (Chronology) 10 Jun 1750 <Westminster>: Several houses were struck and damaged by lightning. Ipswich Jour 16 Jun 11 Jul 1750 <London>: In a thunderstorm with hail the streets were soon overflowed and many cellars filled with water. The Scots Many hailstones were 3 inches about but were flat in the Southwark area. Magazine 6 Jul 24 Jun 1756 <Grove> <Herts>: Thunder lightning and hail broke windows in the seat of Lord Hyde at The Grove in Derby Mercury Hertfordshire with great damage to his gardens. ‘By the sudden floods coming down on that day the greatest 2 Jul quantity of eels were catched by the millers and fishermen ever known’. A church was damaged by lightning at <Sevenoaks> in <Kent>. 24 Jan 1757 <Lambourn> (nr <Hungerford>), <Berks>: A prodigious flood was occasioned by a sudden thaw which came Sussex down in such a torrent that several houses were washed down and inhabitants escaped with difficulty. A malt Advertiser 14 house was borne down and three floors of malt washed away. Feb 29 Sep 1761 <Enfield>: In a hailstorm between 12.00 to 1.00 pm, but lasting only 3 minutes, some pieces of ice were 5 Derby mercury inches round, several birds were killed and branches torn off trees and infinite damage done. 24 Apr 1878 (Chronology) 19 Aug 1763 <Wateringbury><Nettlestead> (Kent) (<<River Medway>>): Hailstones of 80 mm diameter fell; tiles and Webb et al windows were broken, bark removed from trees and walls battered. Severe hail effects were also noted at 2001, Webb <Yalden> and <Barming> where 2000 acres of hops were destroyed. and Elsom <Tonbridge> <Maidstone>: There was a violent thunderstorm from 12.00 to 12.40 when Tonbridge was hit by (2016) flash flooding and hailstones of 40 mm diameter. 23 Jun 1764 <Oxford>: The worst thunderstorm for many years occurred at 2.00 pm. There was a general inundation of the Oxford Jour 30 city with scarce a house not admitting the torrent and many of quadrangles of the colleges. The drains were Jun soon flooded and in less than half an hour the water was half a foot deep. Cellars were filled to their ceilings through East Gate down George Lane, St Aldates, Magpye Lane there were such impetuous currents as to Manchester render them impassable. mercury 3 Jul Widespread thunderstorms were reported in Shropshire, Herefordshire, <Brentwood>. Hailstones at Tottenham weighed about 2 ounces each causing much damage to windows and a great number of hens, ducks and geese were struck and killed; bird’s nests with young ones were beaten out of the trees and fruit trees stripped. Another report says the hailstones were as big as walnuts. At <Harlow> in <Essex> a man was killed and others injured by lightning. Also at <Baconfield> in Bucks to <Acton> in <Middlesex> hail broke all the windows facing west and destroyed fruit and vegetables. Similar accounts are from <Windsor> where it broke all the windows in the Duke of Cumberland’s Lodge; some hailstones were 6 inches in diameter! 23 Jul 1768 See also South Yorkshire and other Chronologies. Manchester mercury 2 Aug <Greenwich>: A man was struck dead by lightning and a woman at Old Bedlam. 1 Sep 1768 Rain from 5 to 11 at <London>: The thunderstorm. Severe flooding was reported from several locations with 2 men drowned. Derby Mercury night Water poured down Highgate Hill with such velocity that the road could not be crossed in safety. The water 9 Sep came down in such torrents from Hampstead that the road and the fields about Bagnigge Wells were Gentleman’s overflown. Water rose 8 feet above the normal level of the drain. Two men sweeping out an outhouse were Mag. surprised by the flood and drowned. Walls were torn down and trees torn up by the roots. The flood was great on Saffron Hill. The Serpentine River in Hyde Park overflowed its banks and a great part of Knightsbridge was flooded. It filled houses to a depth of six or seven feet and washed down one house and drowned its occupant. <Windsor>: Persons and cattle were drowned. 15 Oct 1780 <London>: Widespread thunderstorms were reported with many deaths and injuries by lightning A woman at Northants <Lambeth> had a child killed in her arms. A horse, cows and sheep were killed. At <Hammersmith> the west Chronicle end of a church was thrown down along with several houses in the same neighbourhood with 3 killed in the Saunders ruins.