1.4 Carlisle

Question 1

What was the Carlisle flood?

Answer 1

• 2005
• Carlisle lies on the flood plain of the Eden’s 2400km2 catchment, with annual precipitation of 2800mm in upper catchment and 750mm in Carlisle.
• Upper Eden is 600m high
• Lies on confluence of Petteril and Caldew
• 1 in 170 year flood, flooding towns and villages in the Eden catchment
• Urbanised with bad drainage systems which increased overland flow.

Question 2

What were some factors which made the causes worse?

Answer 2

• Drainage of upland bogs using ditches increased flashiness
• Strong winds blocked drains and rivers with debris
• Defences inadequate for flood of that size
• 25% from overflowing drains and sewers
• Ground previously saturated

Question 3

What were the causes of the Carlisle flood?

Answer 3

• Heavy continuous rain fell for 2 weeks in December 2004, 15% annual rain fell in 36 hours.
• 200mm of rain fell for 36hours in Jan
• Strong winds felled trees causing road and river blockages and power failures

Question 4

What were the impacts of the flood?

Answer 4

• Discharge reached a max of 1500 cumecs
• Windspeed 90mph
• EA issued flood warnings
• 2 drowned, 1 crushed by tree and died
• 1600 homes flooded
• 60000 displaced
• 70k without power
• Rail service, bridges, roads all cut
• 70 buses lost
• Schools, pubs and emergency centres set up to rescue and help residents
• Evacuation by RAF, Coastguard and mountain rescue
• Schools, police, fire station, hospital all closed
• McVities Biscuit factory employing 11000 flooded
• Industrial estates flooded - all shops shut communications broke down
• 1 suicide due to uninsured house
• new buses bought and schools fixed and opened
• Long term flood defences needed to be put in place
• Plans to rebuild police station and city centre and schools
• Firms and factories closed down causing loss of livelihoods - many still live in temporary housing.

Question 5

What were the ways that Carlisle was managed?

Answer 5

-Existing defences built considerably smaller but over topped, proving defences need to be made. EA put forward a plan to compare different options and rebuilding defences was the best option to reduce risk. The state gave a £1.5m grant
.
-Produced stage 1 £12m plan to improve defences finishing in 2008 including embankments, new flood walls, drain down sluices to trap water behind defences and drain it away - protects against 1 in 200 year event and reduces risk to 1500 homes. 4.5km of embankments built

-Stage 2 £24m project protects centre , reducing risk of flooding - floodwalls, embankments, pumping station to pump water from Little Caldew when river levels at risk - CCTV put in place to monitor this

Stage 1 successful as in 2009 floods only 16 homes flooded. Storm Desmond levees were over topped however was a 1 in 300 year event.