Professional Documents
Culture Documents
www.interhigh.co.uk
HIC Flood Storm Desmond and heavy rain brought
widespread flooding to Cumbria and other areas
Cockermouth 2015 of northern England, 7 December 2015.
Causes of flooding
1. Storm Desmond brought record high
rainfall – 348mm fell in a 24hr period
2. Following a wet Autumn, this fell on
already saturated ground
Response and management
3. Steep hill slopes meant that it flowed
-
into rivers quickly
4. Cockermouth is a small town that lies on
the confluence of 2 rivers (the Cocker Environmental impacts
and the Derwent) – this causes a ‘bottle
neck effect’
5. Homes and businesses have been built
on the floodplain. This makes the
ground impermeable
www.interhigh.co.uk
The 2004 floods lasted from July to September
and covered 50% of the country at their peak.
LIC Flood
Bangladesh 2004
Characteristics of Bangladesh Social impacts Economic impacts
-36 million people were -serious damage to infrastructure – roads,
-Lays mainly on floodplains, so flat land made homeless bridges, embankments, railway lines,
Most of the land lies 6metres below sea -People died as a result of irrigation systems
-3 main rivers- The Ganges, Brahmaputra and disease because they had no -All domestic and internal flights had to be
Meghna. access to clean water. suspended during July
-Monsoon season every year – high -Impacted on rural farmers -Value of damage was assessed as being
concentrated rainfall in a few months (June to and urban slum dwellers the in region of $2.2 billion of 4% of total GDP
September). most. for 2004
-1,800mm and 2,600mm rain a year. -Over 800 died with many
-Poverty is a huge issue in Bangladesh-low more from disease
literacy rate
-Flooding occurs naturally in Bangladesh
-Snow from the Himalayas melts each year and Response and management
increase river discharge Environmental impacts -Reliance on Ngo support – financial and
-Sediment blocks up the river and causes During July and August emergency supplies –UN disaster
flooding approximately 38% of the total management support
-Deforestation in the forest increases run off and land area was flooded -Self help schemes promoted
reduces lag time including 800,000 ha of -local community early warning system
-Cyclones occur in the Bay of Benegal and agricultural land and Dhaka implemented, plus shelters
causes coastal flooding Floods caused river bank -Increasing use of levees to protect field
-Densely populated areas meaning increase in erosion especially on and villages
deaths embankment areas close to -Increasing monitoring to reduce the
the main channels, soil impact as happens every year.
erosion, water-logging, water -encourage farmers to build homes on
contamination stilts.
www.interhigh.co.uk