Somerset Levels Flooding - Case Study

background (5)

• dec 2013 - feb 2014

• county in SW England made up of low-lying farmland & wetland

• experienced 3x the average rainfall for those months

• rivers hadn’t been dredged in 20yrs - reduced their capacity

• high tides & storm surges coincided with rainfall = extensive flooding

short term responses (3)

• people evacuated

• people used boats to get around

• local community groups & volunteers helped vulnerable people

long term responses (3)

• rivers are dredged manually

• road levels were raised

• river banks were repaired & raised to increase channel capacity

social impacts (5)

• over 600 houses flooded

• 16 farms evacuated

• many people had power supplies cut off

• villages (e.g. Moorland) cut off = affected daily lives, education etc.

• some people evacuated to temporary accommodations for months

economic impacts (5)

• over 1000 livestock evacuated

• railways were closed

• over 80 roads closed costing £15m to local economy

• over 14000ha of farmland underwater for 3-4 weeks

• floods cost Somerset up to £147.5m

environmental impacts (3)

• huge amount of debris had to be cleared

• floodwaters were heavily contaminated with sewage and other pollutants including oil & chemicals

• stagnant water that had collected for months had to be reoxygenated before being pumped back into rivers