High And Dry

"I saw a woman crying in her flooded front room. I thought: if anything, you're making it worse love…" Jimmy Carr

High and Dry ? Geographical Lessons from the Yorkshire Floods of June 2007 Alan Parkinson Secondary Curriculum Development Leader Geographical Association [email_address]

Objectives…
To outline the impact of the floods of June 2007 in Yorkshire
To explore the issue of flooding and risk, and the concept of ‘resilience’
To summarise any “lessons learned”
To discuss the question of whether this was a “natural hazard”.

http://animoto.com Make your own movies !

Which of the numbers is the correct answer for each statement that follows ? 3 6 10 18 100 294 857 8000 40000 48 000 120000 500000 1 million 2 million 3 million

Total amount of insurance claims (in billions of pounds) ? Number of schools damaged by the floods. Number of INXS fans who turned up at Sheffield City Hall expecting the concert to go ahead. Number of British homes currently at risk from flooding

Percentage of Hull’s population still living in temporary accommodation 9 months after the floods. Number of pupil days lost in schools in Rotherham Total number of household insurance claims. Number of millimetres of rainfall at Emley Moor, W. Yorks in June.

Bingo Eyes down for a full house....
£3 billion worth of insurance claims
857 schools were affected by the floods.
100 INXS fans turned up at Sheffield City Hall for a concert that was cancelled.
2 million British homes currently at risk from flooding.

Bingo Eyes down for a full house....
120 000 total household insurance claims following the floods
10% of Hull’s population still living in temporary accommodation
294 mm of rainfall fell at Emley Moor in West Yorkshire
48 000 pupil days were lost at schools in Rotherham

On Monday the 25 th of June 2007, just after 6am, heavy rain started to fall across Yorkshire...

12 hours later, it was still raining...

8.30 am

2.00 pm

6.00 pm

With thanks to Tom Coulthard

Rivers broke their banks: the Don, the Sheaf, the Rother, the Ryton, the Hipper... Was this mainly a fluvial flooding event (from rivers) or a pluvial event (from rain)

What caused it ?
25 th of June: torrential rain fell over a large area: the equivalent of the contents of over 20 Olympic sized swimming pools every second fell on the city of Hull
The 2 weeks before the 25 th were very wet, and the water table was close to the ground surface ( antecedent conditions )
Why so much rain ?

The wettest June on record Source: Met Office

20 - 30 000 feet high Jet Stream: aircraft pilots ‘Ribbon’ of wind – speeds of between 100 and 300 miles per hour Form where cold polar air meets warm tropical air. ‘Steer’ depressions What caused it ?

PFJS: moves from West to East Summer: normally veers North and leaves calmer HIGH pressure conditions over UK In 2007, Jet Stream stayed south
What caused it ?

Forecast from http://www.metcheck.com

Why so much rain ?
The polar jet which steers our weather system was stuck further south than usual for the time of year, so we were more open to low pressure systems
Warm air, so more evaporation from ocean
As a result, a month’s worth of rain fell in 24 hours in some parts of the country.
Same again this year...

Why was this a hazard ?
Something becomes a hazard when it does one or both of the following things:
endangers life and damages property or the environment
threatens human societies and their welfare

What is the flood risk ? Risk: “ The probability of a hazard occurring and creating loss...” Types: Atmospheric Hydrological Geological Biological Technological

Hazard Risk Equation
Hazard x Vulnerability
Risk = Capacity

Primary or Secondary ? Primary : Immediate – as a direct consequence of the hazard Secondary : Follows later – an indirect (but connected) consequence of the hazard.

Connections... My granny

Ulley Reservoir Dam near Rotherham
Earth bank retaining wall was being eroded away as the dam overflowed
Dam was much fuller than usual
Water started to leak out, and ran down the surface of the dam wall
Landslide weakened the dam wall
Engineers said “not if, but when...”
120 million gallons of water...

What happened ? M1 was closed: costs thousands of pounds per minute to keep it closed Was closed at the end of August as well – why ?

iPernity – 5” video

Google Earth file – pulls in videos and images...

Resilience

Flood resilience
Kitchen units made of steel rather than wood
Electrical sockets placed at higher level rather than the ‘usual’ level
Tiled floors
Raised foundations
Flood doors and barriers
Storage on high shelves

Flood Resilient Home

The resilient Kings Arms

Notice anything ?

10 % of homes are built in areas at risk from flooding Flood defences of new buildings compound flooding downstream We tend to like living near rivers and coasts

“ They’re called flood plains because they flood...” Philip Eden Royal Meteorological Society

Who are the stakeholders ?
The Environment Agency
The Police, Fire Brigade and Ambulance
The Met Office
The Army
The RAF and Coastguard Agency
Gold Command
Local council
Local churches
Red Cross
The Government
Local shops and businesses
Insurance companies

3 policy areas to focus on:
The annual spend on flood defences
Where and how to build new houses
Emergency response procedures

“ Britain’s biggest ever peace time rescue operation” Over 3500 people rescued by helicopters more used to rescuing people at sea...

12 months on… (June 2008)
More than 10,000 people are still unable to return to their homes after last summer's flooding, figures obtained by BBC Radio 5 Live suggest.
“ Councils in England confirmed around 5,000 households remained affected, but added many may not be on lists because they rented or stayed with relatives.”
A shortage of skilled workers, as well as problems caused by a cool, wet winter have slowed down repairs.
The worst affected area was Hull.

WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN WHY HOW ?

A flood hits the following businesses… Which one is able to open first...
Bookshop
Fish and Chip Shop
Hairdressers
Carpet Shop
Thanks to Simon Oakes via Waterworlds blog

Flickr user: wip-hairport

Who benefits from flooding ?
Look at the list below. Who is going to benefit ?
Plumbers
Plasterers
Electricians
Vehicle and equipment hire firms: dryers
Carpet fitters
Skip Hire firms...
Geography teachers ?

Waterproof lettuce ?

Waterproof letters FLOOD PLANNING 6 elements...

1. Check your insurance cover, and where your policy is... There were 165 000 insurance claims after the floods.

2. Know how to turn off gas, electricity and water. Flickr user: earthfromtheground, Amir. S

3. Prepare a flood kit of essential items: a ‘ready bag’
Important documents e.g. Passport, driving license and
important phone numbers
Home and car keys
Toiletries and personal first aid kit
A wind-up or battery radio
Spare batteries
A torch or a candle and matches
Mobile phone
Cash and Credit cards
Spare clothes and blankets
Bottled water and any easy food, e.g. tinned food or biscuits .

4. Know who to contact and how Flickr user: absolutwade

5. Think about what you can move now. 6. Think about what you would want to move to safety during a flood.

The analysis started.... Professor Tom Coulthard Hull University Flickr: tuck 1981

Hull: hit harder than anywhere else...
Hull built in basin – “like New Orleans”
Water has to be pumped into River Humber
Heavy rain meant that the river was already swollen
Pumps were not at sufficient capacity to remove all the water.
Following slides by Professor Tom Coulthard

What caused the 25 th June 2007 floods?
Pumps and drains could not cope with volumes of water
Too much water falling on the city for the network of drains, sewers and pumps to cope with
Like a bath with the plug left in…
The water had no-where else to go
Were the pumps and sewers correctly designed?

Hull has the largest number of households and people affected by the summer floods for any one area in the UK.
Over 8600 households were damaged by the June floods, home to over 20 000 people.
Of these, 6 300 were forced to live in alternative accommodation with over 1400 people living in caravans.
The immediate impact

Medium/long impacts: For Hull
Council targets and infrastructure:
Cost > £100 million
Cost of £326 per resident.
Council largely self insured
Targets: Education, re-cycling, crime
House prices ?

Medium/long impacts for people:
Temporary accommodation
Extended family - stresses
Split up homes
Caravans
Health concerns
Mental - Physical
Domestic issues
Schooling
How long will the legacy last?

No ‘Pluvial’ Flood Warning System
EA Floodline only warns of River and Tidal flooding
No predictive system to forecast for the impacts of ‘pluvial’ flooding
Who is responsible for warning from these events?
“ The Environment Agency provides flood warnings online 24 hours a day. From this page you can view warnings in force in each of our eight regions covering England and Wales. You can also search for your local area and its current warning status using the panel on the right. The information is updated every 15 minutes.”

Some conclusions...

Hazard Risk Equation
Hazard x Vulnerability
Risk = Capacity

Why are floods not natural hazards ? Flickr user: Chris Malcolm

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/thepittreview/interim_report.aspx The Pitt Review Individuals Businesses

Have a go yourself http://floodsim.com... Can also be downloaded .

“ For every £1 further we can spend, we would be able to save the country £6 in repair costs.” Mark Tinnion Regional Flood Risk Manager Environment Agency

2007 137 million people affected worldwide by flooding...

http://www.geography.org.uk/resources/flooding http://www.geography.org.uk/resources/2007floods/ http://www.geographypages.co.uk/junefloods07.htm

http://livinggeography.blogspot.com

Extra reading...

Acknowledgements
John Lyon, Professor David Lambert and other GA colleagues
“ The Great Flood” – Martin Smith (2007) – published by At Heart Ltd and ‘The Star’ newspaper
Newspaper articles from newspapers: The Independent, The Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail
Dr. Simon Oakes, Bancroft School
Professor Tom Coulthard, Hull University
Ernie Savage – for inviting me...
FLICKR Users for images

Acknowledgements
Environment Agency
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/1867303/?version=1&lang=_e
The Met Office: Rainfall statistics
UKResilience website
http://www.ukresilience.gov.uk/response/recovery_guidance/case_studies/p2_3_10-y1_2_yandh_flooding.aspx
Images of Ulley and Catcliffe area by Mark Lomas (made available on Flickr)
Hazard pyramid by Dr. Fiona Tweed, Staffordshire University
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/seasonal/summer2007/index.html

Acknowledgements
FloodSim simulation game: http://floodsim.com
BBC News website – particularly Have your Say
The Pitt Review (can be downloaded)
iPernity: can see the 5 minute clip of the Ulley Dam
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/outallnight/1167732/
Flood Resilient Home website (Norwich Union)
Tom Austen of RIDO for his Flood Map using Google Earth
Stuart Lane article in ‘Geography’ (Vol. 93,2,2008)

http://www.geographypages.co.uk	1255
http://media.kingdown.wilts.sch.uk	480
http://geogtastic6.blogspot.com	110
http://livinggeography.blogspot.com	71
http://livinggeography.blogspot.co.uk	47
http://newedexcelgeography.blogspot.com	44
http://newedexcelgeography.blogspot.co.uk	34
http://geogtastic6.blogspot.co.uk	24
http://geogtastic6.blogspot.com.es	6
http://www.slideshare.net	6
http://geographypages.co.uk	6
http://livinggeography.blogspot.in	3
http://livinggeography.blogspot.mx	3
http://livinggeography.blogspot.ca	3
http://newedexcelgeography.blogspot.ca	2
http://geogtastic6.blogspot.ie	2
http://newedexcelgeography.blogspot.jp	2
http://livinggeography.blogspot.com.au	2
http://geogtastic6.blogspot.in	2
http://newedexcelgeography.blogspot.se	2
http://geogtastic6.blogspot.com.ar	2
http://www.geogtastic6.blogspot.com	2
http://livinggeography.blogspot.kr	1
http://newedexcelgeography.blogspot.it	1
http://geogtastic6.blogspot.de	1
http://livinggeography.blogspot.hk	1
http://livinggeography.blogspot.ro	1
http://livinggeography.blogspot.it	1
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	1
http://livinggeography.blogspot.sg	1
http://livinggeography.blogspot.de	1
http://livinggeography.blogspot.com.br	1
https://online.fvtc.edu	1
http://geogtastic6.blogspot.ca	1
http://geogtastic6.blogspot.mx	1
http://newedexcelgeography.blogspot.in	1
http://geogtastic6.blogspot.hu	1

High And Dry

by GeoBlogs

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

37 Embeds 2,123

Statistics

High And Dry Presentation Transcript

High And Dry

by GeoBlogs

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

37 Embeds 2,123

Statistics

High And Dry Presentation Transcript

Let LinkedIn power your SlideShare experience

Let LinkedIn power your SlideShare experience

Customize SlideShare content based on your interests

Keep up to date when your LinkedIn contacts post on SlideShare