Causes of the Tewkesbury floods

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Heavy precipitation

Heavy precipitation:

- Climatic factor 

- Lasted for 14 hours before the flooding

- The amount of rainfall was 150-210mm approx.

-Rainfall flowed into the river, caused the river to rise rapidly

- The water overflowed the banks, caused a flood to occur. 

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Large Drainage Basin

Large Drainage Basin 

- Human and physical factor 

- Has an area of 11,419km 

- The drainage basin can store lots of water and it may have stored too much water

- This may have caused it to overflow and result with a flood. 

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Steep Slopes

Steep slopes:

- Human and physical factor

- The steeper the slope, the higher the velocity of the water flowing

- This means there'd be less control over the water  flowing

- This results into a flood. 

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Lots of Tributaries

Lots of tributaries:

- Human and physical factor 

- The River Severn has 21 tributaries 

- This makes 21 confluences

- The River Severn carries 3000 ml of water per year 

- Lots of water is going into the river, causing it to overflow

- This results into a flood. 

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Urbanisation

Urbanisation:

- Human factor

- Concrete and tarmac are impermeable surfaces

- They make surface run-off too fast

- When rainwater precipitates from the sky, water runs off the surface too fast

- This means that there's less control over the water, triggering a flood. 

- This happens a lot when the ground is saturated. 

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