Rivers- Case Studies Flashcards
$37,360 GNP per capita flooding case study
Cumbria, U.K. 2009
November
$2,710 GNP per capita flooding case study
Pakistan
2010 July/ August
Physical causes of Cumbria flooding
- Heavy rainfall (314 mm in 24 hours)
- Prolonged rainfall (400mm in 72 hours)
- Already saturated ground
- Cockermouth located at confluence
- Cockermouth built on floodplain
Physical causes for Pakistan flooding
- Prolonged rainfall
- Heavy rainfall (274mm in 24 hours)
- Unusual conditions in the polar jet stream
- Indus river carries a lot of sediment
Human causes of flooding in Cumbria
- Urbanisation on floodplain
- Bridge at Gote road making a damming effect
- Poor river management
- Climate change
Human causes of flooding in Pakistan
- Urbanisation
- Levees
- Deforestation in Himalayas
- Global warming
Short term Impacts of floods in Cumbria
- 500 people evacuated from homes
- 1 death
- 20 road bridges destroyed
- 18 schools shut
Long term Impacts in Cumbria
- Damage homes, businesses & infrastructure £276m bill
- 110 farms severely affected
- Tourism suffered £15m
Long term Impacts of flooding in Pakistan
- £10 billion total economic damage
- 80% of fields waterlogged
- Lack of clean water and food supplies
- Increase in malaria
Short term Impacts in Pakistan
- 20 million people injured and homeless
- 2,000 dead
- 11,000 schools shut
- 200 health facilities closed
- 100s of bridges destroyed
Responses to flooding in Cumbria
- £5.4m to repair roads
- Army called to build
- Rescue service
Responses for flooding in Pakistan
- Shelter for 900,000
- Farmers individually given $230 cash to rebuild
- Aid from America
- €1.96 billion requested by Pakistan government for help
Hard engineering case study?
Three Gorges Dam, China
Soft engineers case study?
River Quaggy, London
Quaggy Waterways Action Group (QWAG)
For three gorges dam
- clean & environmentally friendly
- protected from risk of flooding
- many jobs created
Against three gorges dam
- flooded 1m homes
- silt will be trapped leaving farmland less fertile
- habitats disturbed e.g. Baiji
- millions will die if it collapses
What happened to river Quaggy?
Demolished hard engineering making it sustainable and a great habitat for wildlife as well as preventing flooding for houses further downstream
