Flooding may be extreme now but when the Bristol Channel burst its banks in 1607, 2,000 died. And 1953 saw one of the worst natural disasters in the UK's history

With January's rainfall making it the wettest winter month since records began in 1767, people are understandably wondering if we are experiencing Britain's worst ever floods.

The discovery that we are not is hardly likely to bring any consolation to the poor souls whose homes and lives have been ruined, but history does show us that far worse disasters have hit our nation in the past. Some occurred long before weather records began, but others happened well within living memory.

In the winter of 1953, eastern England was the scene of one of the worst natural disasters in our history. Strong winds and unusually high tides combined to create a storm surge, which sped down the North Sea and breached sea defences all along the east coast.

The devastation was sudden, unforeseen and horrifying: more than 300 people drowned, while 30,000 more were evacuated from their homes. Across the North Sea, it was even worse: almost 2,000 people died in the Netherlands, while many also perished at sea.

Less than a year earlier, in August 1952, another disastrous flood wreaked havoc on the small north Devon town of Lynmouth. This time the culprit was the weather, as a storm of tropical proportions dumped nine inches of rainfall on to Exmoor, already saturated after a wet summer.

As a result, the normally placid River Lyn turned into a raging torrent, sweeping vast amounts of water down into the town. Though the devastation was not as great as the East Coast Floods, 34 residents died and 420 were made homeless.

Even these tragic events pale into insignificance compared with the most destructive weather-related disaster ever to hit the British Isles: the "Grote Mandrenke", or "great drowning of men", in January 1362.

Reliable figures for loss of life are hard to come by, but it is believed that across the whole of north-western Europe at least 25,000 people died. Some perished as a result of high winds, as trees, homes and churches collapsed as if made of matchsticks; but many others drowned as a result of a storm surge similar to that of 1953.
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