Boscastle

• steep slopes around Boscastle
• confluence of three rivers - Valency, Jordan and Paradise
• impermeable rock
• previous weather bad in past few days
• 5" of rainfall in 4 hours
• river funnels in Boscastle

means that the water is less likely to infiltrate into the ground, therefore travels by overland flow, which is faster, meaning that the water reaches the river in a quicker time, also more water will reach the river by it travelling this way, so the peak discharge will increase by both amount and in time

when it rains, the discharge increases rapidly and the river will not be able to cope with the fast increase in the volume of water

lots of rain in short period of time meant that it was inable to infiltrate into the ground as it didnt have time, so travelled by overland flow, which is faster and allows more water to reach the river, so morewater reached river in a smaller period of time, therefore increasing the discharge quickly, and the river couldn't cope

bad weather over the previous days meant that the land was already saturated, so the extra rain couldn't saturate into the ground, so travelled by overland flow which is faster and allowed more water to get to the river

this meant that water couldn't infiltrate, so travelled by overland flow, so more water got to the river faster, which it couldn't cope with

when there is a storm or heavy rainfall, it causes a lot of water to all be coming to one point, and the river can't hold all the water, causing it to overflow and flood the surrounding area

• property was destroyed
• people were trapped in building
• people were left homeless for the night
• a burst sewage main and damaged roads
• roads were blocked off by flood water

• by debris such as uprooted trees and vehicles travveling at high speed
• 20 tonnes of soil was moved by the flood
• 58 properties and 3 shops were destroyed
• car park was washed away

• floodwater forced people to seek refuge of roofs of buildings
• danger of being swept away, hypothemia and shock

• emergency accommodation was set up
• tourists had lost their cars so were stranded in hotels

• most of Boscastle inaccessible as it flooded roads
• rescue and repair couldn't be done straight away

• damaged bridge
• made emergency rescue difficult except from the air - valley was only big enough for one helicopter at a time - prolonged rescue and put peoples lives at risk

• floodwater damaged a lot of property
• town was effectively closed to tourists after the flood
• repair had to be made after damage
• damage not only affected resisdents, but also insurance companies

• very time consuming and costly
• some buildings were beyond repair
• rebuilding had to be considered
• people had lost lots of money - so was had to find money for repair

• tourism was the main industry there - massive loss of revenue - Boscastle may never recover, many businesses may go out of business - harder to live there

• possessions were lost and many ground floors of houses were damaged
• thousands of pounds worth of damage was done
• people had lost lots of money - costly to reair

• insurance became much more costly
• harder for people to live there

• emergency services activated - search and rescue, environment agency, coastguard
• local hospitals warned (Padstow) - medical attention
• people removed from buildings by airlifting
• emergency shelters - schools and churches, other villages
• hot food and drinks, beds
• buildings checked for survivors
• buildings checked for damage
• debris cleared - 84 cars in harbour

• £4.5 million was spent on defence scheme
• drainage systems repaired and improved
• channels widened and deepened
• banks of river reinforced
• new bridge
• main car park raised by 1m
• emergency relief culvert installed
• afforrestation in upper parts of the river

• the channel will accommodate more water, so it will take more water to make it overflow and flood the area
• if flooded again, the wider bridge wont catch as much debris, so will allow the water to keep flowing out of the village

• straighter - will make water flow faster, so will get out of the village quicker
• deepened - channel can hold more water

• banks wont be eroded as easily, especially is there is a large amount of water

• will absorb some of the rain, so less reaches the river
• if river floods, the car park is less likely to flood as it is higher and permeable so peoplezs cars wont be swept away

• if river overflows, it will go to the culvert, so less water will get to the village

• vegetation will absorb rainwater, so less gets into the river
• absorb water so less water will reach the village