The storms of November 1824 and November 1924 and what they mean for November 2024 with Professor Brian Golding
Entrance fee £2.50 payable on the door.
On 23rd November 1824, Sidmouth was devastated by one of the most destructive storms on record, the results of which probably affected subsequent development of the town down to today. In this talk I will describe the impacts on the town from the copious eye-witness reports recorded later by Peter Orlando-Hutchinson. I will then look at the meteorology of the storm, which affected the whole south-west coast, and speculate on the differences from the 1703 storm recorded by Daniel Defoe, which is regarded as probably the most extreme ever documented, yet which does not get a mention in local Sidmouth records. From there I will move forward to 1924, when the esplanade was destroyed by a sequence of storms in late December, none of which was classified as extreme. With these historical events in mind, I will then move on to the present day, with sea level now significantly higher and rising steadily, to consider the nature of the risk to the town and how it is changing.
Talk in partnership with the Sid Vale Association
