A Case Study of the Boscastle Floods

Where?Boscastle is in North Cornwall, in the S divulgeh westerly of England. A humble seaside towns peck, it faces out onto the Atlantic Ocean.What?Flash runoffs hit the town on Monday 16th August 2004 in a 1 in 50 year occurrence. This safarid cxxmm of rain in 7 hours, twice the monthly average and do the river to rise 8/9 feet. clearly the river broke its banks, flooding Boscastle severely.Causes?The main cause was quite simply the fact that at that place was a lot of rain. 120mm of it in fact. visual perception as it had been raining for a some weeks before, saturating the ground, the water had nowhere to go moreover down the 2 steep valleys ring the village into the river. Or rivers Boscastle is at the group meeting of 3 rivers, the Valency and the Jordan. These understandably better and the water was funnelled into the main road. Although this particular storm wasnt down the global warming, we are get more heavy storms in late years which is rattling likely to be to do with global warming.Impacts?Because of the enormous pile of the water and the shape of the hills, the water went very fast towards the sea, as high as 3 metres, and a speed of 40mph, expiration destruction behind. These speeds send away(p) move machines, hundred actually through the village, emptying and destroying the car park, washing them into the harbour and sea, or estimable leaving them dumped in the village. The amazing mint of water coupled with cars acting as out of control cannon balls, cause homes and businesses to be knocked down or washed away. unitary 16th century building was all told destroyed by a wear away camper van. Water move easily into homes, destroying everything inside. With the main road saturnine into a river, the tarmac was destroyed, likewise link and signs etc. Although resembling something like a outturn from the Doctor Who Special Effects team, miraculously nobody was hurt or killed, credibly because of the event happening in th e day, distant the Lynmouth flood in Devon 52 years to the day which took the lives of 34 people. They in any case pee the emergency services to thank, who rescued 120 people, many of whom scrambled onto their roofs. 60 people were evacuated to a nearby village.Longer terminal figure impacts of the floods affect both the government and the people. raft will be piece moody holidaying in Boscastle, an area almost altogether reliant on tourism, costing their frugality and the jobs and livelihood of people. The authorities will also have to replace damaged roads etc. and think about flood defences for the future. Insurance companies predict the clean up bill will run into millions of pounds. For the inhabitants of Boscastle, non only have their businesses been destroyed. The floods have damaged houses not only through subtile destruction, but through damp as well. Possessions will have to be replaced as well as the floods having a cracking emotional impact on people. drop -off Methods?Considering Boscastle is a small village, which has only been flood severely once, not much cash can be allowed to be exhausted on stopping future floods. However, small reduction methods could be made such(prenominal) as deepening the river so it can hold more water. The material take out can be used to micturate embankments to further deepen it. The rowing of the rivers could be changed, such as straightening them to get ahead the water reach the sea faster without so many meanders to turn round. The river could be pumped electron tube in gravid pipes, although Boscastle would lose the river, which is one of the tourist appeals of the place.The authorities have actually spent 0.8m on widening and lowering the river Valency. Theyve also put a relief channel underground which can take water away from the river when there is a lot of rainfall. Finally, theyve inserted a tree catcher so trees cannot create dams downstream if washed into the river.