Images that help explain why Basel was settled on the banks of the Rhine. Why Basel is at risk of flooding.

1. Why is Basel at risk from
flooding?

2. Aims of this lesson
Knowledge:
• Revise causes of flooding and drainage basin processes.
• Develop greater knowledge of the Rhine around Basel
• Describe at least two ways in which Basel has been protected from flooding
• Understand the difference between hard and soft flood protection
Thinking skills:
How do people cause floods?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of different flood protection methods?
Is it possible to control a river and eliminate any chance of flooding?
What might the future hold?

3. What’s going to happen during
the lesson.
An introduction to Basel and the Rhine.
Revision of the drainage basin system. What do
you know?
What has been done to protect Basel from
flooding. The Rhine, the Birisg and the Birs.
Discussion: Is Basel safe? What does the future
hold?

4. Part 1: What causes flooding
The drainage basin system

5. What causes flooding?

6. What causes flooding? Basel in 1864

7. What causes flooding? Basel in 2021

8. The Flood of 1530
This plaque marks the water
level of the 1530 flood.

9. The Flood of 1876
Klein Basel and Großbasel flooded in 1876.

10. The Flood of 1876
Schifflande hochwasser 1876.

11. Part2 : Basel and the Rhine.
View from the Grenzacher Horn 1830

12. The Rhine in 1820
Looking towards Basel from Istein in 1820

13. Tributaries of the Rhine in Basel
The Birs
The Birsig
The Wiese
The Rhine’s
tributaries

14. The Birs and Basel

15. The Birsig, Basel Stadt in 1886
The Birsig und Klosterbergbrücke, Engelsburg in 1886 The Birsig, today this is Falknerstrasse.

16. Why was Basel built on the Rhine
Dry point
Defence
Resources
Fresh water and fish
Fertile flood plain
Transport
Basel was first settled in the 3rd Century BC.

17. Why was Basel built on the Rhine
Mittlere Brucke is the oldest
existing bridge site across
the Rhine, between Lake
Constance and the North
Sea.
The original bridge was
completed around 1224.

18. Basel has changed a lot since then….
View from the Grenzacher Horn 1830

19. Basel has changed a lot since then….
View from the Grenzacher Horn 2019

20. Basel lies on a meander in a broad floodplain.
Basel has changed a lot since then….