Grote Mandrenke

The (1st) Grote Mandrenke (/ɣroːtə mandrɛŋkə/, Low Saxon for "Great Drowning of Men",[1] Danish: Den Store Manddrukning) was a massive southwesterly Atlantic gale (see also European windstorm) which swept across the British Isles, the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Denmark (inclusive Schleswig/Southern Jutland) around 16 January 1362, causing at minimum 25,000 deaths.[1] The storm tide is also called the "Second St. Marcellus flood" because it occurred 16 January, the feast day of St. Marcellus. The "First St. Marcellus flood", which drowned 36,000 people along the coasts of West Friesland and Groningen (today provinces in the north of the Netherlands), occurred on 16 January 1219.

An immense storm tide of the North Sea swept far inland from England and the Netherlands to Denmark and the German coast, breaking up islands, making parts of the mainland into islands, and wiping out entire towns and districts, such as Rungholt on the island of Strand in North Frisia, Ravenser Odd in East Yorkshire and the harbour of Dunwich.[2]

This storm tide, along with others of like size in the 13th century and 14th century, played a part in the formation of the Zuiderzee,[1] and was characteristic of the unsettled and changeable weather in northern Europe at the beginning of the Little Ice Age.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Stephen Moss (2011-01-20). "Weatherwatch: The Grote Mandrenke". Guardian. Retrieved 2014-01-23.
  2. ↑ "Dunwich underwater images show 'Britain's Atlantis'". BBC. 2013-05-10. Retrieved 2014-01-23.