Seven cars were left stranded in floodwaters after a supermoon high tide caused the River Thames to overflow at Chiswick Mall in West London. Video footage shows vehicles half-submerged and a man wading through knee-deep water near a pub. The incident is believed to have occurred following the Hunter's Moon supermoon on Thursday, October 17.
The Environment Agency issued a flood alert on Saturday, October 19, citing 'spring tides and high river flows' as contributing factors. The alert also warned of potential flooding at Putney Embankment, Strand on the Green, and Thames Bank at Mortlake.
Chiswick Mall, which has a tidal range of over five and a half metres, regularly floods due to the shape of the river, where the tide takes twice as long to recede as it does to rise. The local lifeboat station, the second busiest in the UK and Ireland, frequently rescues people cut off by the tide.
David Clarke, formerly of Chiswick Lifeboat Crew, told the Chiswick Calendar: 'There are times when we wonder whether people are just not aware that the river is tidal. Many times a year we are asked to check cars that are half submerged and sometimes they can float and need to be secured to prevent a hazard to navigation.'
The Hunter's Moon is the brightest supermoon of the year and the closest to Earth, appearing 15 percent brighter and 30 percent larger than usual. Supermoons occur when the moon is at its perigee, the closest point in its elliptical orbit to Earth, causing higher tides than normal.
