W-8

Map of 2009 Cumbrian Floods: A massive downpour of rain (31.4cm), over a 24-hour period triggered the floods that hit Cockermouth and Workington in Cumbria in November 2009 The long downpour was caused by a lengthy flow of warm, moist air that came down from the Azores in the mid-Atlantic. This kind of airflow is common in the UK during autumn and winter, and is known as a ‘warm conveyor’. The warmer the air is, the more moisture it can hold.
 * __The 2009 Cumbrian Floods__**
 * Causes: Rain**
 * What caused all the rain?**
 * What else helped to cause the Cumbrian Floods?**
 * The ground was already saturated, so the additional rain flowed as surface run-off straight into the rivers
 * The steep slopes of the Cumbrian Mountains helped the water to run very rapidly into the rivers
 * The rivers Derwent and Cocker were already swollen with previous rainfall
 * Cockermouth is at the confluence of the Derwent and Cocker (i.e. they meet there)
 * The effects of the flood**
 * Over 1300 homes were flooded and contaminated with sewage
 * A number of people had to be evacuated, including 50 be helicopter, when the flooding cut off Cockermouth town centre
 * Many businesses were flooded causing long-term difficulties for the local economy
 * People were told that they were unlikely to be able to move back into flood-damaged homes for at least a year. The cost of putting right the damage was an average of £28,000 per house
 * Insurance companies estimated that the final cost of the flood could reach £100 million
 * Four bridges collapsed and 12 were closed because of flood damage. In Workington, all the bridges were destroyed or so badly damaged that they were declared unsafe – cutting the town in two. People faced a huge round trip to get from one side of the town to the other, using safe bridges
 * One man died – PC Bill Barker
 * Responses to the flood**
 * The government provided £1 million to help with the clean-up and repairs and agreed to pay for road and bridge repairs in Cumbria
 * The Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund was set up to help victims of the flood. It reached £1 million after just 10 days
 * Network Rail opened a temporary railway station in Workington
 * The ‘Visit Cumbria’ website provided lists of recovery services and trades, and people who could provide emergency accommodation
 * Flood Warning**

The Environment Agency works out which places are at risk from flooding and issues warnings, when necessary. Three codes are used: The codes tell people whether flooding is expected and what they should do. The Environment Agency also lets people know when the risk of any further flooding has passed.
 * Flood Alert
 * Flood Warning
 * Severe Flood Warning

Very interesting weblink to Env Agency and also Flood Map [] - live flood warning map [] [] [] The simple answer is yes but the cause is more difficult to ascertain. From the 1960s to the 1990s, big floods were pretty rare in the UK. However, serious floods now seem to be happening more often, as the table shows below:
 * Interesting video link -**
 * Flooding on the River Tay -**
 * Is flooding happening more often?**
 * Date || Places affected by flooding ||
 * 1998 || The Midlands ||
 * 1999 || North Yorkshire ||
 * 2000 || York, Shrewsbury, Lewes, Maidstone ||
 * 2002 || Glasgow ||
 * 2004 || Boscastle ||
 * 2005 || Carlisle ||
 * 2007 || Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, the Midlands, Gloucestershire and Boscastle ||
 * 2009 || Cockermouth/Workington ||

At the end of July 2010 usually heavy monsoon rains in northwest Pakistan caused rivers to flood and burst their banks. The map below shows the huge area of Pakistan affected by flooding. The floodwater slowly moved down the Indus River towards the sea.
 * __The 2010 Pakistan Floods__**
 * The Pakistan floods**

Continuing heavy rain hampered the rescue efforts. After visiting Pakistan, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said that this disaster was worse than anything he’d ever seen. He described the floods as a slow-moving tsunami.


 * The effect of the floods**
 * At least 1600 people died
 * 20 million Pakistanis were affected (over 10% of the population), 6 million needed food aid
 * Whole villages were swept away, and over 700,000 homes were damaged or destroyed
 * Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis were displaced, and many suffered from malnutrition and a lack of clean water
 * 5000 miles of roads and railways were washed away, along with 1000 bridges
 * 160,000km2 of land were affected. That’s at least 20% of the country
 * About 6.5 million acres of crops were washed away in Punjab and Sindh provinces


 * The responses to the floods**
 * Appeals were immediately launched by international organisation, like the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee – and the UN – to help Pakistanis hit by the floods
 * Many charities and aid agencies provided help, including the Red Crescent and Medecins Sans Frontieres
 * Pakistan’s government also tried to raise money to help the huge number of people affected
 * But there were complaints that the Pakistan government was slow to respond to the crisis, and that it struggled to cope
 * Foreign Governments donated millions of dollars, and Saudi Arabia and the USA promised $600 million in flood aid. But many people felt that the richer foreign governments didn’t do enough to help
 * The UN’s World Food Programme provided crucial food aid. But, by November 2010, they were warning that they might have cut the amount of food handed out, because of a lack of donations from richer countries