Being surrounded by water – and not just the sea but the Gannel too – have you ever wondered how “at risk” you and your house are if the sea levels rise. Whether you’re living in Newquay, or looking to buy a house in Newquay, it’s an interesting question for many of us.
Whether you believe in global warming, or sea-levels rising or not, it’s an interesting thing to be able to quickly see just how ‘vulnerable’ your house might be to flooding. It’s not long ago that the Mermaid Inn at Porth became the victim of a rogue sea swell that saw seawater flooding through the bar, dragging furniture back out with it – and the swells of that night were captured on video showing the road outside as the sea surged right across the road.
So I decided to track down some Newquay flood risk maps. Firstly, of course, there’s the official one from the Environment Agency. On the Environment Agency flood maps they’ll show you, in a very small space, where any floodwater might come from. There are two main risks: the sea rising up, or rivers flooding. Anywhere where there’s a river flowing into the sea is at some risk of flood during times on an incoming tide. If you have the combination of an extra high tide (a spring tide), and a storm coming from the wrong direction, and the river water trying to get out to sea, you’ll end up with a flood … but will it reach your house?
Apart from the Envrionment Agency Flood Risk Maps, there’s also a nifty little website that you can change the sea level height figure and see how things change.
Personally, I can’t see much change even at a 7metre rise in sea levels, but here are the links to Newquay flood risk maps, just for entertainment and 10 minutes of fun:
- Environment Agency Flood Risk Map – preset to Newquay, but you can type in any place in the box.
- Newquay Flood Risk Map – change the height of the sea level at the top.
Update for the Floods of November 2010: Newquay didn’t flood, the Newquay to Par branch line was affected due to a landslip in the areas that were flooded, which are on the south coast. There was no Porth, Newquay flooding either – what happened in 2008 was a freak storm surge.
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