There
was a very wet and windy spell during the first few days of the month, with a relatively deep depression tracking through
the southwest approaches and across southern England during the latter part of the
2nd. It initially brought some gales across the Channel Islands and much of the south coast before slowly filling and moving
across to northern England. In its wake
it brought some heavy falls of rain, which along with the gales caused some minor disruption across southern coastal counties.
Ahead of the depression an active cold front brought a large amount of rain across eastern parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland
on the morning of the 1st. Some places recorded as much as 20– 30mm falling within a 6 hour period. Castlereagh in East
Belfast recorded 45mm of rain, and as a result some parts of the Belfast area were affected by flooding. Part of the M2 within the vicinity of Belfast was closed due to the heavy rain. Lower Ormeau, in the south part of Belfast was worst affected by the heavy rainfall and flooding. Fire fighters were called
out to rescue those that were trapped in their houses by the rising floodwaters that were reaching 3–4 feet, and starting
to mix with raw sewage after the sewers became blocked. Around 130 homes were flooded in total.
On the 2nd the deep depression moved into the southwest of the UK
with a low central pressure of 960 mb at 12z. The tight gradient winds to the southeast of the depression brought some gales
to the Channel Islands and much of the south coast throughout the day and overnight into
the 3rd. The Isle of Portland (Dorset) recorded a gust to 69 knots and at Brixham in Devon
there was also a gust to 63 knots recorded. To the south, Ushant (a small island west of Brittany)
recorded a gust to 74 knots, and Pointe du Ruz, on the western tip of Brittany recorded an
extremely high gust of 89 knots (102mph) – though this is not unusual considering its relatively exposed location and
proximity to the North Atlantic.
The depression anchored across the southwest of the UK
brought periods of heavy rain and showers spiralling around the depression during the evening of the 2nd and overnight. (A
selection of SatRep, radar and satellite images from the 2nd can be found here, (provided by KNMI, the Dutch Met service, Avbrief and EUMETSAT). The
heaviest falls were in the south where Cardinham (Cornwall)
reported as much as 79mm falling within a 48 hour period and Odiham (Hampshire) reporting 36.8mm of rain in the 24 hour period
to 18z on the 2nd
The gale force winds caused some disruption; when the train service from Glasgow
to Penzance was stranded at Dawlish (Devon) for 3 hours, this after it was hit by a huge
wave that then interfered with the trains’ electrics. This is not the first time that such an incident has occurred
on this coastal stretch of mainline track that runs right next to the sea!
In Dorset, many trees and telegraph poles were downed by the gales, and a combination of the heavy rain and
high tides brought flooding to parts of southern counties including the A3030 near Sherborne as well as at Christchurch Quay. At Eccliffe, near Gillingham in Dorset,
a 64-year-old woman was caught up whilst driving to work in floodwaters on a country road, which reached as high as the steering
wheel of her car. Police had to rescue her by cutting across an adjacent field due to the depth of the floodwaters being dangerously
high. The floodwaters were caused as a result of the River Stour bursting its banks after
several hours of heavy rainfall.
By the 3rd the wind had died down considerably bringing an end to the stormy and wet period, this occurred as
the depression moved northeast to lie across central England
and had filled slowly over time. The heavy rainfall that had caused flooding in the southwest was restricted to areas further
north and was generally dissipating.
