Fifty two years ago, on this day, August 15th, 1952,
On August 15, 1952, one of the worst flash floods ever to have occurred in Britain swept through the Devon village of Lynmouth. Thirty five people died as a torrent of 90m tons of water and thousands of tons of rock poured off saturated Exmoor and into the village destroying homes, bridges, shops and hotels.
The disaster was officially termed “the hand of God” but new evidence from previously classified government files suggests that a team of international scientists working with the RAF was experimenting with artificial rainmaking in southern Britain in the same week and could possibly be implicated. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/aug/30/sillyseason.physicalsciences
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 312ppm. As of 2024 it is 424ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that the Americans and the British and presumably the Soviets – who knows – had been thinking about weather modification/making it rain. And the RAF possibly got a little too enthusiastic here. Who knows? Well, they do. But they keep the files under lock and key.
What we learn is that if you go around, interfering in incredibly complex systems, weird shit can happen. We have learned that on a micro level and a macro level? We poked the beast, as scientist Wally Broecker, and it’s waking up.
What happened next? There were prolonged efforts to get the military to tell the truth. Good luck with that. And I think there were bids for compensation. Good luck with that.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
August 15, 2010 – Russia halts grain exports because of droughts and heatwaves
August 15, 2010 – a walk against warming fails to catch fire. #RepertoireRot