AQA AS Geography Rivers: Carlisle Floods

CARLISLE FLOODS
January 2005…read more

Where is Carlisle situated?
· Carlisle is situated on the flood plain of the River Eden
with three rivers meeting in the city. The catchment covers
approximately 2400km2 and is home to approximately
244,000 people. The catchment is mainly rural, with only
1% classified as urban: the main urban areas are Carlisle,
Penrith and Appleby.
Carlisle has a history of flooding with flood events
recorded as far back as the 1700s. In recent years there
have been significant floods in 1963, 1968, 1979, 1980,
1984, and recently in 2005.…read more

Where the floods affected Carlisle…read more

What lead to the flooding?
· During the second part of the first week of 2005, a very
mild and moist tropical air mass engulfed the UK, bringing
gale-force south-westerly winds.
· A depression centre passed near to the north of the area
on Thursday 6 January, with associated cold fronts,
bringing strong frontal uplift and convection. The main
cold front, marking the boundary with cold polar air, was
more or less stationary over northern England on Friday 7
January.…read more

What lead to the flooding?
· For most of Friday this cold front lay close to the
Cumbrian fells, which lay in the moist tropical airmass all
day.
· Late on Friday a new low pressure system developed
west of Ireland, deepened rapidly and moved over the
borders.
· The cold front pushed east over Cumbria with severe
gale-force westerly winds, followed quickly by an occluded
front which wrapped its way round the depression bringing
storm force winds and heavy rains back into Cumbria on
the morning of Saturday 8 January.…read more

What lead to the flooding?
· Heavy rainfall on Friday 7 January led to flooding in
Carlisle on Saturday 8th
· The rainfall was prolonged over the high ground of the
nearby Lake District and Pennines, draining into the River
Eden on which Carlisle is situated.
· The floods followed a month of high rainfall in the Carlisle
area, so the ground was saturated and would no longer
allow water to infiltrate, and surface run-off was
excessive. The result was rapidly rising water levels in a
number of rivers including the Eden.…read more