Somerset Levels
- Created by: Niamh44
- Created on: 25-11-17 19:10
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- Somerset levels
- Physical
- Severe winter storms in December and January in southern England during 2013/14
- December 2013 one of stormiest on record since January 1993
- Southern England and the midlands experienced the highest January rainfall since records began in 1910
- Impermeable bed rock (clay) and low interception levels (grass) made it naturally a high risk of flooding
- Southern England received 207mm of rainfall in January 2014 (twice estimated for the month)
- High tides meant that water can’t exit the river at the mouth so it backs up and floods onto the floodplain
- Severe winter storms in December and January in southern England during 2013/14
- Human
- Lack of river dredging
- Left 7000 hectares farmland and homes underwater
- Had not been dredged in 20 years
- If dredged it would have cleared of silt, widening and deepening them, making them easier to maintain
- More capacity to carry floodwater away, draining the floodplain quicker
- Water pumped onto Levels from Taunton and Bridgwater to protect homes built on former floodplains
- Lack of river dredging
- Physical
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