A Human Wave Surged At Mont Saint-Michel To Watch The Supertide

By R. Siva Kumar - 23 Mar '15 09:04AM

On Saturday there were two supertides.

Thousands surged in the French island of Mont Saint-Michel off the coast of Normandy, to watch and flow with the "tide of the century" or the "supertide."

The other unusually high spring tide due to Friday's solar eclipse and the following 'supermoon,' showing the moon descending to Earth closer than usual, according to rt, was a spectacle. On Saturday morning, the huge tide of around 14 meters, which was as high as a four-storey building, totally cut off Mont Saint-Michel from the mainland for a couple of minutes.

This rocky Mont Saint-Michel, a medieval building that housed the historic Norman Benedictine Abbey, is said to have the "world's strongest tides."

The French Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOM) predicted that the tidal coefficient would touch a record-high of 119 on Saturday. "The coefficient that ranges between 20 and 120 is based on the height difference between consecutive high and low tides," according to rt.

More than 20,000 people heaved with the waters to photograph and describe the 'tide of the century' at Mont Saint-Michel. The crowd included French Foreign Affairs Minister, Laurent Fabius, and Defense Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian.

There were thousands more in the beaches at various parts of northern France and south-west England. The 'supertide' will swoop in other parts of the world as well, as it rises upto 16 meters at the Bay of Fundy on Canada's Atlantic coast.

The supertide turned the Mont briefly into an island last Saturday, even as the low tide helped people to walk on the "expansive flat seabed," according to bostonglobe.

Said Wilfred James, who drove six hours from central France in time for the morning tide: "It's been a long time since we've seen Mont Saint-Michel surrounded by the sea. I was born in this region and I never saw it like this," he said.

Watch the picture gallery of the supertide here.

Yet, the term 'tide of the century' is not really accurate. This "current positioning of celestial bodies" is supposed to occur again after 18 years. Hence, another abnormal tide will take place in March, 2033.