village. The small group of houses on the bank of the East Lyn river called Middleham between Lynmouth and Watersmeet was destroyed and never rebuilt. Today, there stands a memorial garden. On 16 August 2004, a similar event happened in Cornwall, when flash floods caused extensive damage to Boscastle, but without loss of life. The hydrological setting of these two villages is very similar. Conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory has spread that the flood was caused by secret cloud seeding experiments carried out by the Royal Air Force (RAF) between 1949 and 1952. The theory was fuelled by a 2001 BBC Radio 4 documentary, which suggested that the events of 1952 were connected to Project Cumulus. The programme alleged that "the infamous Lynmouth flood disaster came only days after RAF rain-making experiments over southern England", and that secret experiments were causing heavy rainfall. According to the programme, "classified documents on the trials that Project Cumulus contributed to the conditions that caused this flood have gone missing". A few days before the disaster a seeding experiment was carried out over southern England. Alan Yates, an aeronautical engineer and glider pilot who was working with the operation, sprayed salt in the air and was "elated" to learn of a heavy rainfall in Staines shortly after. "Survivors tell how the air smelled of sulphur on the afternoon of the floods, and the rain fell so hard it hurt people's faces." Meteorologist Philip Eden has said the experiments could not have caused the accident: "it is preposterous to blame the Lynmouth flood on such experiments". Eden also said "The storm which caused the 1952 disaster was not confined to the Lynmouth district." while in reality "The East and West Lyn rivers, which drop rapidly down from Exmoor, were swollen even before the fatal storm." References Further reading Delderfield, E. R. (1953) The Lynmouth flood disaster. J. Atkins and J. Letheren, Exton. Conspiracy theories by subject Lynmouth Exmoor 1952 natural disasters Lynton and Lynmouth 1952 disasters in the United Kingdom 1952 in England August 1952 events in the United Kingdom 1950s in Devon