Geographical Association

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Managing Flood Risk - Carlisle Case Study

The Carlisle Floods of January 2005

Carlisle is situated on the flood plain of the River Eden with three rivers meeting in the city. The catchment covers approximately 2400km2 and is home to approximately 244,000 people. The catchment is mainly rural, with only 1% classified as urban: the main urban areas are Carlisle, Penrith and Appleby.

Carlisle has a history of flooding with flood events recorded as far back as the 1700s. In recent years there have been significant floods in 1963, 1968, 1979, 1980, 1984, and recently in 2005.

Across the catchment, the January 2005 flooding affected 2,700 homes. In Carlisle three people died, 1,844 properties were flooded and there was significant disruption to residents, businesses and visitors. The cost of the flooding was estimated at over £400 million. The flooding followed prolonged heavy rain, and was caused by a combination of floodwater from the Rivers Eden, Pettereril and Caldew and localised flooding from sewers and road drainage.

As a result of this flooding, the Environment Agency has prepared a flood management plan. Through this website you can investigate the causes of the 2005 flood, its effects on Carlisle, and different solutions to prevent future flooding.

Carlisle Flooding, January 2005: © Prestwood Carlisle Flooding, January 2005: © Prestwood

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8 Comments

Guest

Cara O'Roarty

Guest

19:54 - 08/11/11

This helped me alot on my home work:)

Guest

Dave

Guest

15:02 - 28/11/11

Very helpful

Guest

Harry

Guest

13:59 - 15/12/11

Thanks for this it has been very useful for my Goegraphy homework.

Guest

chloe=ebony

Guest

13:22 - 04/01/12

this has been very helpful with our my humanities work :) :D

Guest

jesse swanson

Guest

11:17 - 10/01/12

what were the physical causes of the flood? x

Guest

SAK

Guest

21:08 - 19/01/12

This really helped. Thank you.

Guest

Cedd

Guest

17:19 - 02/02/12

Really helpful with homework!

BTW Physical factors include:
-Intense rainfall
-Steep slopes either side
-Sparce vegititaion and cooler temps before intense rainfall
-Impermeable rock in sorrounding valley
-Urbanisation of Carsilie

To list just a few :) Hope it helps, and thanks again :)

Guest

beth atkinson

Guest

09:05 - 06/02/12

hi i would just like to say thnx. i used this information for my home work project and i got an A* for effort. again thnx, i hope to use this website again in the near future xxxxx

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