source

source

Well, it's a tidal surge, not a tidal wave, but still a potentially major "act of God." Speaking of whom, let us hope that the Brits have said their prayers.

I'm getting the feeling that this is a storm in a tea cup.

Its been a bit of a windy day on the east coast of Scotland today. Gale force winds, well not really. Kite flying weather.

With the Prime Minister Gordon Brown publically chairing the Cobra Committe in times of national emergency seems to me to be nothing more than political spin.

People along the east coast of England are being told to prepare for the worst. Perhaps there might be some localised flooding along some low lying areas around Norfolk and Suffolk. National emergency, I really don't think so.

I hope you're right. Three meters sounds like an awful lot of water.

It should be noted that the East Coast they are referring to is that of England not the Atlantic seaboard of the United States.

They are predicting this to be roughly the same if not slightly more than the flooding of that area in 1953, when "scores of people" lost their lives.

Remember a surge is more like a tsunami than a wave. It doesn't have a quick peak which is soon past. It is more like a change in overall water level in rapid order.

Here are some maps (found on line) which may help shed some light on the scale and implications...

oh man. this is just like the UK movie "Flood". In the movie, a huge tidal wave flood the city of London and the eastern coast. The wave breach the flood gate protecting the city of London

I hope our British brothers and sisters stay safe!

And it fizzeled out into a bit of localised flooding. Still better "prepared to survive" as they say.

Picard, read the book "Flood London" The film was based on this but, as always the book is a whole lot better.

It looks like they got about 6 feet and not the 9 they had been predicting, thank God.

Now, if it ever snowed in London for a few days and London got 3-4 inches of snow, then there really would be a National Emergency. The south of England would literally grind to a halt. A business client from London had travelled up from London to Dundee in Scotland in March 2006 for a business meeting. There was a snow blizzard outside and there was a look of panic on his face. It didn't help when I mentioned the film 'The Day after Tomorrow' and told him about an RAF Mountain Rescue Sea King helicopter, which had been forced down over the Cairngorms because of the extreme weather conditions a few days before, just like in the film.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4768116.stm