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Boscastle Under Water (Including The Museum Of Witchcraft)

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Anonymous

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/3570940.stm

Dozens of people have been rescued by rescue services in north Cornwall after a huge wave crashed through a coastal village during heavy flooding.
Heavy storms on Monday afternoon caused 6cm (2ins) of rain to fall in two hours in the Boscastle area.

"This is the biggest combined incident we have had in many, many years. It is very seldom we have more than two helicopters at one scene. To get seven is remarkable."

Rescue workers described the situation at Boscastle as "horrendous" as buildings and cars were washed into the sea.

BBC Spotlight Cornwall reporter David George said: "There is no electricity or power in the area. A number of properties have been completely washed away and, at one point, a 10-foot wave came down one street.

The village is one of Cornwall's most picturesque and historic tourist spots, but its position deep in a steep valley may have left it vulnerable to the elements.

Boscastle stands in a deep coomb where two valleys meet, formed by the rivers Valency and Jordan. A third river, Paradise, also flows through the village.
 
I've been in Boscastle during heavy downpours and seen the roads turned into rivers but this was something else, global warming??
 
Yeah - am watching it at the moment. What a nightmare!:sob:
Apparently 3 People missing - pretty scary sight really.
 
I've been drinking there a few times. :(

The scenes on the TV news pulled my partner up short. The Dutch are super sensitive to scenes of flooding, anywhere.
 
I think this is nature being nature and nothing to do with global warming, see the BBC's 'On this Day' page for the same day in 1952
 
I just hope the Witchcraft Museum isn't totally knackered. It'd be awful if all of those fart-bottles and chiffon-clad witches were destroyed :eek!!!!:

That sounds a bit sarky - I actually would be gutted 'cos I love that place, and Boscastle is my most favouritist place on earth. Last time I went it seemed a bit smaller than previously (the museum, not Boscastle). I know it changed hands (relatively) recently - were a lot of the exhibits removed, does anyone know?

Christ, that was a hellishly messy post - sorry :(

**Edit - as for global warming, I would be surprised. Speaking as a hydrologist, it's just physics in action. Village located in steep sided valley, and a bit of extra rain after a period of relative dryness often leads to flash flooding as there is nowhere else for the water to go, and it can't infiltrate the ground as easily as in winter due to a build up of a crust on the surface. Thus, overland flow increases, and the inputs into the river channel are greater, leading to greater discharge. Too great, the river breaks its banks, and hey presto - call the coastguard! Having experienced flash-floods first hand in the Sahara, Boscastle got off lightly!**
 
From the looks of things and what my mum has said (she's down that end of the world) it's unlikely that a lot of the museum is left :/

She said that the shop associated with it was washed away entirely but I've only got her word for it :)
 
the Clovely clothing company shop is compleatly disintigrated.. the museaum may have survived..tho its nearer the sea but a littl emore substantian tho it has had up to 60 cars passing it to be deposited in the Atlantic...last i heard Divers where investigateing if any of the cars had ocupants... One chopper rescued 55 persons and seven were out rescueing...quite a sight on the news seeing the choppers all hovering over the main street....

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/feature/pe200802.htm

about Lynmouth disaster where about the same thing happened with 12 killed 52 years ago.
Polpero has also had it happen a few years ago.
 
Hi

found this on the Daily Mirror web site which suggests that the witches museum may be OK (but obviously the people are more important!)

(like the bit about sending SuperJags in to the rescue!)


10FT TERROR WAVE Aug 17 2004
Source

Dozens are airlifted to safety as village 'swept away' in flood

Geoffrey Lakeman Inboscastle, Cornwall


THREE people were reported missing last night after a 10ft wave of water crashed through a Cornish village.

In a massive rescue operation seven helicopters, two lifeboats and more than 20 fire engines were scrambled to Boscastle, Cornwall, after 4ins of rain fell in minutes.

Six buildings collapsed and more than 50 cars were swept into the harbour, where the water hit the rising tide and the River Valancy burst its banks.

Dozens of people were airlifted from rooftops and trees and others were rescued from stranded cars, including two adults and a baby. Some lit fires to attract rescuers.

Last night Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was on his way to the area. Michael Mulford, spokesman at RAF Kinloss which co-ordinated the operation, said: "It's the biggest rescue in recent history.

"All down that river bank we are picking people out of trees, picking them off the bank and out of cars."

Coastguard Mark Clark said four adults and four children were trapped on the roof of a visitor centre and more in the Witches' Museum. One person was plucked out by helicopter after a suspected heart attack and a kidney dialysis patient was lifted from his house.

At Derriford Hospital in Plymouth one person was treated for possible hypothermia. Others were flown to Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro with minor injuries and shock.

Resident Andrew Trevail, 29, said "The entire town seems to be going under water. It's as if Boscastle is about to be lost to the sea."

Supt Jon Wotton said: "We are doing all we can to substantiate the reports of people missing because there is still an element of confusion with families being split."

Georgia Gifkans, 14, was rescued by helicopter with her dad Luke from the roof of a B&B.

Georgia, of Stevenage, Herts, said: "Cars started to float past. Shop windows started smashing.

"It lasted for about an hour and the water was coming up to the waist of grown men. It was going so fast it was frightening."

TV reporter David George, who reached the scene on a 4x4 tractor, said: "The RAF are pulling people out of buildings. The helicopters are taking people to safety before coming back to rescue more."

Tourist Jude Rees said: "I heard a huge bang. The bridge was ripped up and floating down into the sea."

Holidaymaker Wayne Grundy said: "Cars started coming down the High Street and out to sea. A caravan and two cars were washed over a bridge."

Mary and Brian Polley and their dog Ed joined dozens sheltering in the village hall after their VW campervan was washed away.

Last night attempts continued to airlift up to 1,000 people to safety.

Supt Wotton said more than 150 members of the emergency services would carry on all night.

Helicopters circled as fire crews, coastguards, cliff rescue teams, ambulance and lifeboat crews picked through the debris. House walls were knocked down. Upturned cars lay buried in mud and silt. Trees lay in the still raging river.

Tintagel was also hit by torrential rain. People abandoned vehicles and walked barefoot to safety.

The River Camel in Camelford threatened to burst its banks. A camp site was swamped and horses had to be rescued from a stables.


richard @
 
well parts of the museum are quite substatial (built of stone) but i rememeber the back bit is more of a wooden shed..even if its still there its had tons of stones, water and cars washed thro it..
 
Hopefully has the front of the museum is facing the opposite direction of where the cars were coming from that it may have survived… although there were a lot of cars going passed so it may have not been so lucky. :/

Damn! I really like Boscastle. It was always nice to pop past on the way home and pick up fresh pasties for the drive. Such a pretty little place.

MX
 
I was wondering about the Youth Hostel, right down by the harbour at the end of the road.

Hope everyone was ok.

One of my favourite places. I assume that the leather shop was destroyed as well, especially given its location.

Damn
 
Damn, I hope it's OK, I love that little place. It's so strangely situated too, it's lovely :( Fingers crossed everyone will be able to put things back together.
 
Latest news on the museum:

The Museum Site

On the 16th August this year, severe weather and flash floods hit Boscastle with devastating results. The Museum of Witchcraft has been severely damaged, leaving much of the building destroyed. During this awful event Graham King, the owner of the Museum, bravely assisted in the rescue operations using his coast guarding skills to help others. The Museum will take time to recover but rest assured it will be back, restored to its previous splendour.

For further information, enquiries, offers of help or donations please contact:
Helpline: 01749 674712
Email: [email protected]

All donations and offers of help will be greatly received.


Very sad news. I especially hope their archival collection can be salvaged, as I believe it was rather fine.
 
too fast for a flood warning too it seems

The Environment Agency today admitted it had not issued a specific flood warning for the three rivers that yesterday converged to flood the Cornish fishing village of Boscastle.
Officials told Guardian Unlimited that the freak conditions had made it impossible to issue sufficient warning in time to evacuate the village.
Click to expand...
:eek!!!!:
 
From shots on the local news the museaum was roof eves deep in muddy water and floating cars.... the pulled two very mangled cars out that were still blocking the little bridge...not sure about the youth hostel but a building just up from the museaum looked fine as it was out of the very concentrated torrent.
 
Agent Buffy said:
I just hope the Witchcraft Museum isn't totally knackered. It'd be awful if all of those fart-bottles and chiffon-clad witches were destroyed
Click to expand...
"Fart-bottles"?
 
I prefer to enjoy mine fresh from the source. Seriously, though, what's a fart bottle?
 
Just seen a clip on telly of Crakingtonhaven (to the north of Boscastle)..a realy charming place, often wanted to live there... less populated but sheets of water wreking the central plane. Saw one of my favourit little wooden bunglaows slideing out to sea!
 
Fart Bottles

As I recall (and it's been a few years since I went to the museum - and it'll be a few more before I go again by the look of things :() fart bottles are exactly what they sound like: bottles to trap farts in. Witches then probably used them for nefarious ends (sympathetic magic style), or they were taken away as "demons that had possessed you".

As always, willing to be corrected.
 
Are we not all forgetting the other Fortean angle to this story? the Lynmouth flood is now being linked with rainmaking experiments:

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991219

Artificial rain making operations may have caused a storm that nearly wiped out an English village in 1952. New evidence has emerged that the UK's Royal Air Force was carrying out cloud seeding experiments that could in theory have led to the disaster.

A torrent swept through Lynmouth, Devon and remains the worst flood on record for the UK, drowning 35 people. "I'd never seen a sky that colour - yellowy, greeny, purple - it was uncanny," one eye-witness said.

Government defence officials have always denied that cloud seeding experiments were carried out before 1955. But now documents have been unearthed showing that scientists had teamed up with the RAF to try to make rain in the week of the disaster.

De-classified War Office documents also suggest that the military had been interested in using rain to cause downpours to hamper enemy movements, clear fog from airfields, and even increase the fallout range of atomic weapons...
Click to expand...

Could Boscastle also be the victim of a military experiment?

(I'm not sayin it is , but the events are very similar.)
 
Hi

received this today, in case anyone wants to assist the museum of witchcraft:

Merry Meet All,

This is an emergency newsletter in reaction to the flooding of Boscastle.

The Wiccan and Witchcraft community faces a disaster today, with the partial
destruction of the Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft by the recent flood early on
Monday morning. The building is still standing, but there is known to be
extensive damage, especially to the ground floor area. Fortunately none of the staff or volunteers from the Museum were hurt during the flood, although two at least had to escape the rising water by climbing a cliff at 5am in the morning.

Children of Artemis in co-operation with the Friends of the Museum and PF Devon and Cornwall have launched an appeal to try to help the Museum in it's hour of need. We are accepting donations by credit cards or paypal online at

http://witchcraft.org,

and will have details of how you can donate money by post tomorrow. The details of the Friends of the Museum appeal will be available on
the web site as soon as possible. It does not matter which of the two appeals you contribute to, both are destined to help the Museum. Children of Artemis have already raised over £1,000 and the total is steadily rising.

Please note the other organisations are recommending online donations are to made through Children of Artemis, at http://witchcraft.org as we are already
operational and the funds will be made available to the museum almost
immediately. Some work in Boscastle will need to be done urgently and we will be ready to contribute to that essential preservation almost immediately.

Please consider contributing however much you can afford to help restore this
essential part of our heritage. The collection housed at the Museum is unique and a vital piece of our history, something we must ensure survives. Children of Artemis started the fund with £500 from central funds and are looking at the possibility of fund raising opportunities to raise more.

This is a good example of Wiccan and Pagan groups co-operating to respond to an emergency situation. We are in regular contact with people in Cornwall and will post news as and when we receive it. For more information please check

http://witchcraft.org

Many thanks for the support everyone is giving to our friends in Boscastle.

Merlyn :)
 
The museum owner was on the "Today" programme on Radio4 this morning. Apparently the ground floor is full of mud but he hopes some things may be salvagable.
 
From what I can tell from the photos on the BBC website the Museum was quite badly hit… that said there seems to be nothing left of the Christian shop which used to face it.

I would say something about irony but it’s a real shame that any of Bascastle’s wonderful buildings were destroyed. :sob:

MX
 
MXhaunted said:
From what I can tell from the photos on the BBC website the Museum was quite badly hit… that said there seems to be nothing left of the Christian shop which used to face it.

I would say something about irony but it’s a real shame that any of Bascastle’s wonderful buildings were destroyed. :sob:

MX
Click to expand...

You mean this shop has been destroyed?:

http://www.answersingenesis.org/uk/newsletters/PN-UK_07-2000.asp

Witness to witches

One of the most beautiful places to visit in Cornwall is a little town called Boscastle, on the Atlantic coast adjacent to Tintagell.

The ancient harbour is surrounded by old houses, the most picturesque being 'The Harbour Light', easily identifiable by its thick white washed stone and sagging ancient roof. 'The Harbour Light' is a quality gift shop managed by Sue Uglow, a subscriber to Creation Magazine.

Sue's keen interest in the work of AiG has lead her to stock many of our tracts, including Stones & Bones and Is there Really a God? Each summer, many non-Christians show an interest in these and purchase copies.

The special importance of Sue's Harbour Light is that it is opposite to Boscastle's 'Witches Museum', which is Europe's largest collection of artefacts to do with witchcraft. The museum has been featured in BBC documentaries.

Sue says that some people, especially children, come into her shop very disturbed after visiting the museum, and she is able to help in some small way.

Isn't it wonderful that God has placed His saving light right where it is most needed. Do pray for the work Sue is doing and pop in to visit if you are in the area!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what I make of it - God's judgement on Creationists? I'm no fan of Creationism, to put it mildly, but it is a shame to see such a beautiful place in ruins.

We have had our own flash floods here, but not as bad:

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/lancashire/bolton/news/NEWS16.html

£100,000 flash flood repair bill
Last posted: Wednesday 18 August 2004 15:37
WATER bosses are counting the cost of damage to Bolton's countryside after flash floods left a trail of devastation.

Rangers say boulders the size of cars left 15ft craters in the ground near Entwistle Resevoir. And many bridges linking popular walkways were ripped up by the force of the water.

Heavy rains last Thursday night brought water cascading down Cadshaw Valley and into the resevoir.

The torrential downpour caused a stream to burst its banks and spark a mini-landslide.

Trees were uprooted and footpaths across the West Pennine moors, near Rivington, were wiped out.

Officials from water giant United Utilities say the damage amounts to £100,000.

And they are warning trekkers to stay away from some walking trails, as these are still unsafe.

Signs have been erected to alert walkers about potential dangers, but some people are ignoring the warnings.

It could be 12 months until United Utilities builds new flood defences and the trails reopen.

Alternative walking trails are still open around Jumbles Resevoir and Wayoh Resevoir.

A spokesman for United Utilities said: "I've never seen anything quite like it. It just shows how devastating nature can be.

"We should be thankful that the downpour happened late at night when there were no walkers around. Otherwise the consequences could have been a lot more serious."

He warned walkers: "Please stay away from the cordoned off areas, or you'll be putting yourself in danger."

Bolton was hit by flash floods last Friday when rain poured off the moors into Egerton and Belmont.
Click to expand...

BTW - I tried to post this message earlier but we had a big thunder storm and I unplugged my modem for safety!
 
Well Prince Charles has been (as well at Prescot yesterday).. and hes expressed and interest in returning to view the museaum when its up and running again... acording to some woman in a pentagram t-shirt.... amazeingly Nic Witchel whos on the spot (along with every news person in SW) did a little graphic thing and totaly misidentified the Riverside Hotel... he pointed out a hotel thats isnt by the river at all!... what hope acurate news ah.... looks like the Clovely Clothing company (must watch out for cheep flieces) went and bult up head of water took down a whole row of fishermans cottages down stream of that!... mostly Holiday homes i expect.

From the pics Lynmouth had a whole lot of big bolders rolled down the main street blowling over houses on their way..Bosacatle is more in a slate area (Delabole is near-ish) so didnt have huge bolders luckily...
 
sidecar_jon said:
Well Prince Charles has been (as well at Prescot yesterday)..
Click to expand...

it just gets worse for them doesn't it . . . :err:
 
sidecar_jon said:
Well Prince Charles has been (as well at Prescot yesterday)..
Click to expand...

Perhaps Prescot was looking for another opportunity to rescue some one from icy waters!
 
Austen,

Yup. That’s the shop. Pardon me if I’ve got my stories mixed up. I heard that there had been an ongoing disagreement from the 'The Harbour Light' towards The Witches museum. I just thought it was ironic and all. What with The Witches persecution from the church. *sigh* I almost feel bad for saying that. :/

But yeah, it would be a BIG shame if The Harbour Light was destroyed in the flood. Such a wonderful building and also a total disaster for the shops owner.

I hope it’s still standing.

MX
 
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