Cumbria Flooding - Rivers

The river eden runs through North Cumbria and reaches the sea near carlisle
1) the drainage basin of the river eden is very large so it catches a large volume of rainfall, leading to a high river discharge.
2) some parts of the basin have steep sides so water runs quickly down the river.
3) there are many streams that drain quickly into the river making a short lag time. On 8th of January 2005 river eden flooded.

Physical Causes
1) there was heavy rainfall on 6th of january for 36 hours, 200 mm of rainfall was recorded this was equivalent of 4 months of rain.
2) rain fell on saturated ground so water didn't soak into ground but ran off straight into the rive.
3) this caused a very high peak discharge

Human Causes
1) is a large built up area with impermeable concrete and tarmac surfaces. this meant there was little infiltration of rainfall and high surface runoff which increased discharge,
2)drains and sewage systems overflowed in some areas.

Social Impacts
1) 3 people died into the floods.
2) over 3000 people were made homeless for up to a year and thousand of personal possessions
were damaged.
3) children lost out on educations 4 schools were severely flooded.
4) increase in stress related illnesses following the floods.

Environmental impacts
1) flooding increased river bank erosion n some areas
2) rivers were polluted with rubbish and sewage

Economic impacts
1) it took about a year to repair damage to homes and repairs cost over £100 million.
2) 350 businesses had to shut down as there was no electricity, telephone service or transport trade activities were suspended.
3) United biscuits (the largest employer in carlisle) flooded with 3m of water. caused £5 million damage. 33/1100 employers lost their jobs.
4) 77000 addresses had no power. the sewage works, police station, fire station and council offices were severally flooded.
5) 50 buses were destroyed. many roads were also destroyed.