Why do the somerset levels flood?
- The Somerset Levels span an area of around 250 square miles, or 160,000 acres. The majority of this area is below sea level, making the land vulnerable to both tidal and land-based flooding.
- The two rivers, the River Tone and Parrett, which run through the Levels, have been hit by the downpours in recent weeks, causing them to burst their banks and spill out onto the floodplain.
- The Severn Estuary is also a problem, as the tidal range in the Bristol Channel is the second highest in the world. High tides cause flood water to back up along the rivers across the Levels and Moors.
- Because there has been so much rainfall farmland decimated and some people completely cut off, with villages only accessible by boat. Campaigners say these rivers have not been dredged properly in 20 years, leaving farmland and homes without proper defence from the floods, resulting in acres of land being left underwater from the storms which started in December.
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