The Causes,Effects and Management of Flooding in Loughton

Loughton Brook

What is flooding?

Flooding is the result of a river discharge exceeding its bankfull capacity

Loughton Brook is managed to prevent flooding

Is Flooding a Naturalor man made event?

• It is a natural event but is made worse by human activity.

When is flooding a problem?

When is flooding not a problem?

• Think about the areas in which it can occur and the damage.

What factors affect how quickly a river responds to rainfall?

• Try to think of at least three each before following onto the next slide.

It is affected by:

The Lag time– Size of drainage basin– Geology– Steep valley sides– Land use e.g. urban / rural– Type of precipitation– Number of rivers in a drainage basin

How do people change these factors?

• Deforestation– Decreased

interception of rainfall and increased run-off due to soil erosion.

• Urbanisation– Concrete structures

are impermeable. www.nature.com

Why do people live in areas at risk from flooding?

• Areas of flooding are usually on flat land. What is this ideal for?

• Flooding can create fertile soil, what would this be useful for?

• Historic reasons

en.academic.ru

What responses are there to the flood risk?

• Hard engineering– Channel straightening– Dams & storage ponds

• Soft Engineering– Aforestation

• Do nothing– Allow areas to flood – compensation?