The Black Tide was a natural disaster that hit north-west Europe on February 9, 2011. A force 13 storm pushed the poisoned waters of the North Sea against the coasts and up the Elbe river, breaking dams and flooding large areas (including parts of the city of Hamburg). It killed thousands and displaced millions in the affected areas of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK.
References
- Shadows of Europe, p. 10
- Deutschland in den Schatten II, p. 9
Trivia
- The Beaufort scale is based on wind speed using the formula V = 0.836 B3/2 m/s. So a force 13 storm has wind speeds of 36.9 – 41.5 m/s (133–149 kph).
- As currently used in much of the world the scale stops at 12; and all storms with wind speeds above 32.6 m/s (117 kph) are simply classified as force 12. However many western Pacific countries still use the calculated scale through force 17.