North Wales Storm Surge - Dec 2013

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• published: 08 Dec 2013
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Raging north-westerly winds, a high spring tide and an extremely high storm surge brought destruction to many parts of the UK during the 4th-6th December 2013. The coast of North Wales took a beating with a storm surge adding a full metre on top of high tide, flooding out a few hundred homes in the Rhyl area. We set up to film the incoming storm surge in Colwyn Bay. Whilst this area had some protection from the north-westerly wave trains, meaning that the waves themselves weren't huge, the shear elevated height of the sea surface poured over coastal defences. To address a few points before they're inevitably raised: We are aware that filming during large waves and storm surges is very dangerous. We took all precautions to plan escape routes and avoid high risk but accept there will always be dangers. There was a 60-70mph wind which was impossible to cut out of the footage without making it silent. The wind-noise may therefore annoy you! We know that salt water wrecks cars - a nice jet-wash sorted that out later. Filming storm damage and flooded properties carries a moral risk. We were discrete in our filming and also lent a hand in the clean-up, wherever we could. Music at the end is a short section of "Heart in the pipes" (Kauf Remix)