Gale of January 1976

The Gale of January 1976, widely known as the "Capella" storm in Germany and the Ruisbroek flood in Belgium, was one in a series of extratropical cyclones and storm surges, which occurred over January 1976. The gale of 2–5 January 1976 resulted in severe wind damage across western and central Europe and coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts. At the time, this was the most severe storm of the century over the British Isles. Total fatalities reached 82 across Europe, although a figure of 100 is given by the World Meteorological Organization. Of these 24 were reported in Britain and 4 in Ireland. Overall losses of US$1.3 billion were incurred, with insured losses standing at US$500 million (1976).

Meteorological history December 1975 saw a deep low persisting over the northern Barents Sea with a high north of the Azores and west of Biscay, which enhanced a strong westerly flow over northern Europe. This anomalously strong westerly flow over the North Atlantic saw a low pressure maintained in the central Atlantic in association with an almost stationary upper trough. During the afternoon of 1 January, a depression broke away from this central Atlantic low from the SW of the Azores in a frontal wave, transporting a mass of warm and moist air and moved quickly northeast, to be centred 150 kilometres (90 mi) north-west of Malin Head Ireland, by midday on 2 January. On its journey, the system rapidly deepened, powered by an in-draught of cold air from the north which supplied temperature contrast powering explosive development. The low then passed eastwards, crossing central Scotland out into the North Sea to reach northern Denmark by the morning of 3 January. The central pressure reached a minimum of 962 hPa in the eastern North Sea. After crossing the North Sea, the low elongated over the southern Baltic Sea, with the centre stretching from Denmark to the Gulf of Gdańsk, with an occluded front stretching parallel to the southern Baltic Sea coast. The low then coalesced with a secondary low which had formed in its wake, taking an elongated form over Denmark and the southern Baltic Sea.

Forecasting and warnings The gale's rapid development took the Irish weather service by surprise. Flood warnings were only received by the police from the Met Office half an hour before water overwhelmed the sea defences. The UK national forecast service was in operation at this time with warnings provided up to 12 hours before the storm.

Wind damage

Ireland Met Éireann estimated that the storm in Ireland was one third as disruptive than the previous storm of 11–12 January 1974 and was similarly disruptive as a storm on 27–28 January 1974; the numbers of casualties though were double. Overall the storm was not as severe in Ireland as those storms, but in the mid-west of Ireland was particularly severe, especially along the upper reaches of the River Shannon from Limerick to Portumna and Athlone. The duration and force of the winds were comparable across Ireland to those experienced during Ex-Hurricane Debbie of 1961. In Ireland, damage from wind brought down trees and power lines on the evening of 2 January, blocking many roads. The Irish electricity board estimated some 90,000 homes (10% of all served) had disrupted power supplies for an extended period. Transportation was widely affected by the storm, with many islands cut off by heavy seas. Air transport was grounded for several hours at Irish airports. At Shannon Airport, a large inflatable hangar was blown away.

United Kingdom In the British Isles, the storm was described as the worst since 1953 and destruction covered a wider area of the United Kingdom than the Great Storm of 1987, with 1.5 million incidents of damage reported. The storm saw structural damage occur across nearly all counties of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the worst hit areas in a band from Ulster across the Irish Sea to Lancashire and down through the Midlands into East Anglia. Wind speeds of over 40 m/s (140 km/h; 89 mph) were recorded at a number of stations in England, with RAF Wittering in Cambridgeshire recording a gust of 47 m/s (169 km/h; 105 mph) at 22:18 GMT on 2 January. Many stations across the North East of England, East Anglia and the Midlands experienced gusts in excess of 36 m/s (130 km/h; 81 mph), with mean winds (hourly) of 23 m/s (83 km/h; 52 mph) or more. Strong gale or storm force was often reached with hurricane force 12 reported from some places in South Wales, southwest and northern England, with Middlesbrough experiencing 51 m/s (183 km/h; 114 mph) winds. In mainland Britain, railways were severely affected as overhead power supplies collapsed in the Midlands. A light aircraft was blown onto the railway from the ground at Southend Airport, causing disruption on the line. Damages were also incurred at Manchester Ringway Airport (now Manchester Airport), where runway approach lighting masts were bent and buckled by the wind. The high winds brought down a crane in central Manchester. The high winds blew a beech tree onto the elephant house of Longleat Safari Park causing estimated damage of US$20,000, The elephants Twiggy and Chiki escaped unharmed and were later put to work pulling the remains of the tree from their home. One of the pinnacles of the main tower of Worcester Cathedral crashed through the roof into a transept during the storm. There were prolonged power outages in Norfolk, with power being cut to over 100,000 in the three counties of Kent, Surrey and Sussex to the south of London. The Old Vic theatre in London was evacuated as strong winds brought down scaffolding surrounding the venue. A spokesman for the RAC described the general conditions in the country as being like "A giant bowling alley with trees littered like bowling pins all over the road." Prolonged power outages occurred in Northern Ireland.

Netherlands

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.