A case study of river flooding/flood

management in an MEDC
Case Study: Boscastle, River Valency (river
flooding/flash flooding 2004.
Rivers =

Year/date
2004

Town/City/Region:
Boscastle

Module: Rivers and Coasts

Country:
England

Continent:
Europe

CAUSES

EFFECTS (S/E/E)

Physical

Short term

Steep-sided valleys (funnel water)

1.4million litres of rain in 2 hours
-Wet summers, ground becomes saturated and
cannot soak in water from big storms.
- Permeable rock- rock (sandstorm) becomes
saturated.
-Small/round small:basin the distances involved are
small and round: flow distances are minimised

-4 footbridges washed out

-trees were up routed
-Injuries
-loss of possessions
-Loss of public services, electricity and water.

Human
Small catchment areas
Relatively impermeable upland area of bodin moor
Saturated ground because of removal of trees and
vegetation
Surface run off quickly reaches river
Buildings on flood plain and bridges over river
creates dam-like effect
Artificially narrowing the river, reducing its carrying
capacity
-Allowing trees to grow close to river, many washed
into the river and blocked it.

RESPONSES/MANAGEMENT + were they

sustainable?
Short term
-Clearing vegetation from river banks
-flew in medical supplies
-rescued people stuck on roof tops and pumped
water from streets and houses
-recovered empty cars which were washed up on
the beach.

Long term
-Raised and redeveloped car park
-Relocated lower bridge
- Riverbed lowered and widened
- New extension to car park surfaced in reinforced
grass systems.
-New flood wall (hard engineering)

Long term
-Area relies on tourism for 90% of its income
- 25 businesses destroyed
- 50 buildings destroyed
- Visitor centre destroyed
- Insurances companies paid out approx.
20million
-Stress and anxiety of local people

A case study of river flooding in an LEDC

Case Study: BANGLADESH, river

Module: Rivers and Coasts

Brahmaputra, Meghna and Gagnes (2004)

Rivers =

Year/date
2004

Town/City/Region:

Country:

Bangladesh

Continent:
Asia

CAUSES

EFFECTS (S/E/E)

Physical

Short term

-Monsoon season- heavy rainfall between June and

October
-Himalayas melting snow, especially in summer
-70% of Bangladesh is less than 10 metres above
sea level therefore water cannot drain anywhere
-80% of Bangladesh is floodplain and delta
- Tropical storms and cyclones which cause strong
winds and heavy rainfall can severely
affect discharge in the three rivers which caused
floods
-average rainfall was 300mm per day
-Wide river (14km), 3 times as much sediment than
other rivers

-flood of sewage of sewers

-death toll of 800
- 800,000 km of the land was covered in water.
- Many children and people caught water-borne
diseases due to its rapid spread. E.g. dysentery and
diarrhoea. Many more deaths are usually caused by
disease rather than the flood itself
-Major disruption to transport as roads and
railways were flooded

Human
-Trees cleared for fuel and grazing which increased
surface run off
-the effects of deforestation in the foothills of the
Himalayas causing deposition in the river channel
downstream
-River diversion for irrigation, deposition of slit,
reduces channel capacity

RESPONSES/MANAGEMENT + were they

sustainable?
Short term
-built flood shelters on stilts in areas prone to

Long term
-Contaminated mud left behind
-36 million people left homeless
-destruction of food crops, particularly rice meant
that food supplies were disrupted for many months
- 1.5 million women and children were at risk of
acute malnutrition
-damage to important community buildings such as
schools and hospitals affected the situation.

Map/sketch of the area

Images.

flooding to provide somewhere safe for people to go

during the floods
-Cluster villages raised 2 metres above water level.
-rescue boats located near flood risk areas and
shelters
-Radios for flood warnings were issued.

Long term
-planting vegetation along the banks of the river to
increase interception when it rains and reduces the
amount of ground water.
-dredging the river channels and opening up
abandoned channels to speed up the flow of water
away from an area.
-Bangladesh government officials start to work with
India and Nepal to develop an integrated plan to
tackle the problem of flooding in the GangesBrahmaputra basin.

Key words:

A case study of the formation of a river landform

the upper course
Module: Rivers and Coasts
Case Study: HIGH In
FORCE
WATERFALL
The River Tees

Town/City/Region:
County Durham,

Country:
England

Continent:

Formation stage 1 (diagram)

Formation stage 2 (diagram)

Formation stage 3 (diagram)

A written explanation of how this landform

forms.
1) Soft rock is undercut. This leaves a layer
of hard rock which is resistant and
impermeable which overhangs the layer
of soft rock.
2) The water flows over the overhang and
creates a plunge pool in the soft rock
below
3) Eventually the overhang will collapse
due to the erosion of the soft rock
beneath it. The waterfall then retreats up
stream
4) This creates a steep sided, gorge-like
valley.

A case study of the formation of a river landform

In the middle- lower course
Module: Rivers and Coasts
Case Study: Meander at Yarm
The River Tees

Town/City/Region:

Formation stage 1 (diagram meander)

Country:

Continent:

Formation stage 2 (diagram ox-bow lake

stage 1)

FEATURES of a meander: - In the middle course

the river has more energy and a high volume of
water.
- Gradient here is gentle and lateral (sideways)
erosion has widened the river channel.
- The river channel has also deepened. A larger
river channel means there is less friction, so the
water flows faster
1) As the river erodes laterally, to the right side
then the left side, it forms large bends, and
then horseshoe-like loops called meanders.
2) The formation of meanders is due to both
deposition and erosion and meanders
gradually migrate downstream.
Meanders are a winding curve or bend in a river.
They are typical of the middle and lower course of a
river. This is because vertical (top to bottom)
erosion is replaced by a sideways form of erosion
called LATERAL (sideways) erosion, plus deposition
within the floodplain.
Formation stage 3
(diagram- oxbow lake stage 2)

A written explanation of how this landform

forms.