Lametable Newes out of Monmouthshire
The tract reads: "Lamentable news out of Monmouthshire containing the most wonderful and most fear- ful accidents of the great overflowing of waters in the saide Countye, drowning infinite numbers of Cattell of all kinds as sheepe, oxen, kine, and horses, with others, together with the losse of many men, women, and children, and the sub- mersion of XXVI. Parishes in January, 1607."
The Bristol Channel Floods of January 30, 1607 caused the largest loss of life from any sudden onset natural catastrophe in the United Kingdom during the past 500 years. Between 500 and 2,000 people drowned in villages and isolated farms on low-lying coast lines around the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary.
The timing of the floods relative to the tides support the theory that the event was a wind driven storm surge superimposed on an extreme spring tide. The event remains the most catastrophic flood in western Britain, only rivaled by storm surge floods like those in 1570 and 1953 along the east coast of the United Kingdom. While the sea defenses that line the Bristol Channel have been raised since 1607 (many of which dated back to Roman times), if the sea levels experienced during that event occurred today, the consequences would be catastrophic.
What with climate change, rogue comets, extreme weather events, and collapsing ice shelves this unfortunately seems all too likely. I don t want to sound pessimistic but...