August 2, 1932 Tsunami: Aberavon, Wales, United Kingdom

Aberavon (South Wales) 1932. At this incident, at Aberavon on the south coast of Wales, several boys aged 14 to 16 years of age were drowned, …washed out to sea by a sudden tidal wave…, (The Times, 1932). There are no reports of wave height, nor whether, after the initial wave, further waves struck the beach. The weather report for the day in question mentions several thunderstorms throughout the UK, and the weather at Aberavon, was noted as being ‘cloudy’ and ‘unsettled’ by The Times (1932). Most likely a meteotsunami although lacking strong evidence. (reference #14269)

Aberavon (Glamorgan) 2nd August 1932. On Tuesday 2nd August, again during school summer vacation, a tsunami-like wave hit Aberavon beach on the Bristol Channel coast of South Wales. The Times (1932a) reports that ‘‘Charles Bayliss, 16, William James, 14, and Oswald Hopkins, 16, were washed out to sea by a sudden tidal wave at Aberavon yesterday and drowned. A large number of bathers were near the pier. The boys were believed to have been holding hands when they disappeared. Later it was found that a fourth boy, Arthur Gage, aged 14, was missing, and it is believed that he also was a victim of the tidal wave. His clothing was found on the sand dunes. It was stated that all boys could swim, but were unable to reach land owing to the strong current. Boats were launched and a search was made for the bodies and two were recovered. The boys all lived at Cymmer, near Port Talbot” (The Times, 1932a, p. 12). Although there is no mention of weather conditions in this report, it appears that this event occurred within a period of extensive thunderstorm activity, as The Times (1932b) reports that on the previous day there were no less than 12 thunderstorm affected areas in the UK. The weather report for South Wales on the 2nd August simply states that the weather is ‘‘cloudy”, and generally ‘‘unsettled” (The Times, 1932c, p. 12). Given the close, although not direct, association of thunderstorms with this event, it is likely the wave was created by an offshore thunderstorm, perhaps in the outer Bristol Channel. This event appears to be the most recent of a number of large wave events to affect the Bristol Channel in the past (Bryant and Haslett, 2003, 2007; Haslett and Bryant, 2005, 2007). (reference #6325)