The Western Morning News has marked the 50th anniversary of the Lynmouth flood disaster with a special tribute to the 34 people who lost their lives in the worst ever disaster to hit the Westcountry during peacetime.

A supplement produced by the paper contained reprints of pages from the paper's editions published in the aftermath of the tragedy in 1952.

The 20-page pullout also included tributes to those who lost their lives in the disaster and first-hand accounts from people involved, written in both 1952 and 2002.

Heavy readership demand for the Lynmouth Flood Disaster Tribute supplement led to the WMN selling out in many parts of North Devon and additional copies have since been printed.

In a letter to the WMN, one reader describes how she travelled around on horseback delivering medicine to the area affected. An article she wrote for her school magazine in 1952 was also printed below.

One article even considers a conspiracy theory as a possible cause for the disaster, suggesting that the heavy rain was caused by 'cloud-seeding' operations conducted by the military in Exmoor during August 1952.

WMN feature writer Martin Hesp reports on how "journalists who claim to have seen the records [protected by the Official Secrets Act] say that they show how Ministers authorised rainmaking experiments across Britain from 1949 to 1957".

The WMN also carried full coverage of the special events which had been held in the area to mark the anniversary.

Click here to read about how the North Devon Journal marked the anniversary of the floods.

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