Any flood is a balance of short-term and long-term factors. In the short-term, the weather in the catchment was the wettest for 270 years. There were several periods of heavy rain during October, November and December 2000, caused by a series of slow moving low pressure systems. After a wet October, on 29 October 32.5 mm of rain fell in one day. Saturated soil conditions at the end of the growing season throughout the catchment made for almost immediate runoff. Overland flow took water quickly into river channels, which rapidly rose above normal levels.
The River Severn's flow at Bewdley rose to a peak discharge of 496m/sec by 2 November, four days after the downpour. This lag time reflects the large size of the catchment and some upstream storage in reservoirs, but eventually the river levels downstream rose and caused flooding in Bewdley and the surrounding area.
There were two further periods of heavy rain on 5 November with 30mm and 5 December with 34.5mm, again causing high discharges.
Longer-term explanations for the flood hazard at Bewdley lie in the Severn catchment's physical geography and land use.
Bewdley Case Study: What caused the heavy rains and flooding?
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