Causes of flooding

Torrential rain

Urbanisation increases surface

run-off
 Causes of flooding

Dam collapse

Tsunami caused by
underwater earthquake

Snow melt
 Causes of flooding

Global warming

Monsoon rain

Deforestation
 Managing Floods

▪ There are two ways of managing floods to

reduce their impact

▪ Soft engineering and hard engineering (same

as with coasts)

▪ It is a balance of how valuable the land is, how

many people will be affected, how costly the
management scheme is, and how effective +
sustainable the management scheme will be
 Hard Engineering

These are traditional methods of stopping floods

and require complicated engineering.

The Environment Agency has three options

available:

➢build flood defenses like dams,

embankments and flood walls
➢straighten and deepen the river and cut off
meanders
➢make storage areas for extra water
Dams
▪ These trap and store
water, and let it out in a
controlled way.
▪ They can generate
electricity.
▪ Upstream of the dam
the land floods to make
a reservoir.
▪ They are expensive but
very effective
▪ Makes a massive change
to the ecosystem
Embankments
▪ These are raised banks
along the river.
▪ They effectively make
the river deeper so it
can hold more water
before it floods.
▪ They are expensive and
don’t look natural.
▪ They do protect the
land around them.
Flood Walls
▪ These are built around
settlements and
important factories or
roads.
▪ They are quite
expensive and don’t look
very natural.
▪ They are pretty
effective.
Straightening and Deepening the River
▪ This is called
channelizing the river.
▪ It makes the water
move through the river
faster.
▪ So it doesn’t build up
and is less likely to
flood.
▪ Changes the ecosystem
in the river and spoils
the natural look.
▪ Further downstream,
where the river is not
channelized the water
builds up and floods.
Storage Areas
▪ The water can be pumped
out of the river and
stored in temporary lakes.
▪ Then it is pumped back in
after the water in the
river has gone down a bit.
▪ Effective, but you need to
have a large bit of spare
land that isn’t used, so Area of land
that you can flood it.
 Soft Engineering

Soft engineering techniques work with the river

and use natural processes.
Washlands
▪ These are parts of the
floodplain that are
allowed to flood.
▪ They can’t be built on.
▪ They are usually used
for sports pitches or
nature reserves.
Land-use Zoning

▪ This is where land has different building

controls depending on how far away from the
river it is.
▪ Land next to the river isn’t allowed to be used
for building, the next land can be but only for
low-risk housing.
▪ The last zone is for high-risk buildings like
hospitals, old peoples homes and dangerous
factories
Afforestation
▪ Afforestation is the
deliberate and planned
planting of various
greenery.
▪ By doing this you can
increase interception
and prevent the ground
from becoming
saturated with water.
▪ However, doing this
takes up a lot of room
and cannot prevent
serious flooding.
Warning Systems

▪ Warnings are issued by

the Environmental
Agency so that local
people can put sandbags
by their homes, take
furniture upstairs or
evacuate the area.
▪ Warnings are given on
tv, radio and the
internet.