Note the line of trees delineating the right bank and turbulent nature of a river at full capacity.

Water begins to recede from the Jennings Brewery in the centre of Cockermouth.

But this is not an exra-ordinary amount of rainfall…

Wealth of people Technical ability of a country Education Age Rural Urban

The sooner you can claim the better, as approved trades people can then start putting your house back in order...

So its low lying, but it does have a system of flood defenses to stop flooding from the sea and from the river Hull

"I saw a woman [on the news] crying in her flooded front room. I thought, if anything, you're making it worse love…"   Jimmy Carr

High and Dry ? Managing flood risk Alan Parkinson Secondary Curriculum Development Leader Geographical Association

About me... http://goo.gl/highanddry

Headlines

Worcester 2000 2004 2007 2008 Other years ? Who to ask ? How to find out ? Regular flooding of the River Severn...

Twitter:@flooduk

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ruthhb/4148858080/sizes/l/ LUCY FLICKR Creative Commons licensed

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eltman/633570065/sizes/l/ ELTMAN

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gluemoon/328432299/ GLUEMOON

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gluemoon/328432164/in/photostream/ GLUEMOON

Hylton Road – after 2008 1% per year chance of happening

Who lives in a house like this ? http://floods.firetree.net

One in six houses in the UK is at risk from flooding... Environment Agency , June 2009

“For every £1 further we can spend, we would be able to save the country £6 in repair costs.” Mark Tinnion Regional Flood Risk Manager Environment Agency Figures updated October 2010 to £8

The most-threatened region is the South East Environment Agency , June 2009

http://www.geography.org.uk/resources/flooding http://www.geography.org.uk/resources/2007floods/ http://geography.org.uk/resources/pakistanfloods/

Global Flooding Events

Fluvial flooding

The Barker Crossing: Cockermouth Image by Mark Ollis

Family Jackson A tale of four generations

Celia and Alexy Both are students at St Bees School Celia is in the Upper sixth and takes Geography as an option Alexy is in Yr 11 and will be doing her GCSEs, she is considering Geography AS

Location Both live in Cockermouth So do their parents … (Understandably) And their grandparents … (and their parents…)

The shop Grandfather Jack & Aunt Vanessa

Overflow Upstream the River Cocker had topped its banks

Escape The Gote Bridge slowed the flow cutting off the escape route

Main Street Water starts to fill Main Street: people carry on regardless

Picture from “The Times” newspaper

At Vanessa’s house things were more serious – the garage

The car had floated up to the roof, crashed open the doors and headed off down river – it was later found under a lorry

Image sourced by Liz Smith from ‘The Independent’s website

The livelihood Passed from generation to generation the antiques had been removed but replaced with mud, the whole shop smelt of paraffin.

The stock and office, destroyed

Insurance... 2013 Agreement between Government and Insurance companies to share the cost across all households in the UK is due to run out 5.2 million properties at risk from insurance Govt grant to EA for 2010 - £620 million If agreement doesn’t continue, policies could rise by 4x or some properties would not be insurable...

Photographs by Jean Wilson Commentary by Celia Jackson Text by Mark Ollis, geographer, St Bees

Pakistan Monsoon Floods 2010

“a slow motion tsunami” Ban Ki-Moon

Japanese Tsunami

Floods Crops Groundwater Housing Disease Livestock Infrastructure

http://www.shelterbox.org

Key Case Study

On Monday the 25th of June 2007, just after 6am, heavy rain started to fall across Yorkshire...

12 hours later, it was still raining...

6 am

8.30 am

2.00 pm

6.00 pm

With thanks to Tom Coulthard

Rivers broke their banks: the Don, the Sheaf, the Rother, the Ryton, the Hipper... Was this mainly a fluvial flooding event (from rivers) or a pluvial event (from rain) ?

Some areas had a month’s rainfall in an hour !

For information...

The wettest June on record Source: Met Office

What caused it ? 25th of June: torrential rain fell over a large area: the equivalent of the contents of over 20 Olympic sized swimming pools every second fell on the city of Hull The 2 weeks before the 25th were very wet, and the water table was close to the ground surface (antecedent conditions)

20 - 30 000 feet high Jet Stream: aircraft pilots use them for long haul flights... ‘Ribbon’ of wind – speeds of between 100 and 300 miles per hour Form where cold polar air meets warm tropical air. ‘Steer’ depressions What caused it ?

Polar Front Jet Stream Source: Metcheck

Why so much rain ?   More low pressure systems  Warm air, so greater evaporation from ocean As a result, a month’s worth of rain fell in 24 hours in some parts of the country.  

Jet Stream again...

Why was this a hazard ? Something becomes a hazard when it does one or both of the following things: endangers life and damages property or the environment threatens human societies and their welfare

Hazard Risk Equation Hazard x Vulnerability Risk = Capacity

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/

Primary or Secondary ? Primary: Immediate – as a direct consequence of the hazard Secondary: Follows later – an indirect (but connected) consequence of the hazard.

Nadine lived in this caravan for almost 2 years....

Google Earth file – pulls in videos and images... Rotherham Investment and Development Office (RIDO)

Resilience

Notice anything ?

“They’re called flood plains because they flood...” Philip Eden Royal Meteorological Society

Flood Resilient Home

The resilient Kings Arms

Why are floods not natural hazards ? Flickr user: Chris Malcolm

Environment Agency

Let’s design an app for them....

1. Check your insurance cover, and where your policy is... There were 165 000 insurance claims after the floods.

2. Know how to turn off gas, electricity and water. Flickr user: earthfromtheground, Amir. S

3. Prepare a flood kit of essential items: a ‘ready bag’ Important documents e.g. Passport, driving license and important phone numbers Home and car keys Toiletries and personal first aid kit A wind-up or battery radio Spare batteries A torch or a candle and matches Mobile phone Cash and Credit cards Spare clothes and blankets Bottled water and any easy food, e.g. tinned food or biscuits.

4. Know who to contact and how Flickr user: absolutwade

5. Think about what you can move now. 6. Think about what you would want to move to safety during a flood. Have a flood plan

Flood Risk App – now available...

Have a go yourself http://floodsim.com...

For the future... Flooding will inevitably happen again... The effects of flooding can increasingly be mitigated against by personal or local administrative intervention Recent flooding cannot be directly attributed to global warming The current round of spending cuts threatens investment in flood defences Flooding in the UK affects far fewer people than many floods in other parts of the world

More emphasis on house-holders and businesses to take some responsibility for their own flood protection if they want insurers to keep providing cover.... Do a Google search for “flooding” and look at sponsored links...

http://livinggeography.blogspot.com

The 2007 floods in Hull Prof. Tom Coulthard Geography Department, University of Hull

Post 2001 (Humbercare)

What caused the 25th June 2007 floods? Pumps and drains could not cope with volumes of water Too much water falling on the city for the network of drains, sewers and pumps to cope with Like a bath with the plug left in… The water had no-where else to go Were the pumps and sewers correctly designed?

Flooding was largely at the ends of the sewer network

Hull has the largest number of households and people affected by the summer floods for any one area in the UK. Over 8600 households were damaged by the June floods, home to over 20 000 people. Of these, 6 300 were forced to live in alternative accommodation with over 1400 people living in caravans. The immediate impact

People: Amazing local response Social capital

Schools as a social hub to the community: their closure can have a high social and economic cost. Parents were forced to take time off work, resulting in millions of pounds in lost earnings Can have a greater impact on some groups, for example lone parents.

Medium/long impacts: For Hull Council targets and infrastructure: Cost > £100 million Cost of £326 per resident. Council largely self insured Targets: Education, re-cycling, crime, social indices House prices? Will it set Hull back from its development plan?

Medium/long impacts for people: Temporary accommodation Extended family - stresses Split up homes Caravans Health concerns Mental - Physical Domestic issues Schooling How long will the legacy last?

1. Multiple Agencies involved in design and operation of system individual Landowners

2. No ‘Pluvial’ Flood Warning System EA Floodline only warns of River and Tidal flooding No predictive system to forecast for the impacts of ‘pluvial’ flooding Who is responsible for warning from these events? “The Environment Agency provides flood warnings online 24 hours a day. From this page you can view warnings in force in each of our eight regions covering England and Wales. You can also search for your local area and its current warning status using the panel on the right. The information is updated every 15 minutes. “

3. Design limitations for urban drainage Design standards are only for a 1 in 30 year event (river defences 1 in 100, coastal 1 in 200!) 1 in 30 only suitable where there are ‘alternative watercourses’ (OFWAT) No back up of contingency in the design Bransholme relies on ONE pumping station, it failed

Are we able to cope with more large storm events? Are our urban drainage systems designed for a previous climate, not our new one? Is 1 in 30 year levels of protection enough? What about climate change?

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/thepittreview/interim_report.aspx The Pitt Review Individuals Businesses