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7/31/2019 AO5 Researching a Major Disaster DIST Nb

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AO5 Researching a Major disaster

Boscastle Floods

1. Find a Google map of Boscastle to show where it is?

2. What date did the incident happen?The incident occurred on 16 th August 200

3. What actually happened?

The Boscastle flood occurred on Monday, 16 August 2004 in the two villages of Boscastle and Crackington Havenin Cornwall, The villages suffered extensive damage after flash floods caused by an exceptional amount of rainthat fell over eight hours that afternoon. The flood in Boscastle was filmed and extensively reported but thefloods in Crackington Haven and Rocky Valley were not mentioned beyond the local news. 185 mm (7 inches) of rain fell over the high ground just inland of Boscastle. At the peak of the downpour, at about 15:40, 24.1mm of rain (almost one inch) was recorded as falling in just 15 minutes at Lesnewth, 2.5 miles (4 km) up the valley from

Boscastle. In Boscastle, 89 mm (3.5 inches) of rain was recorded in 60 minutes. The rain was much localised: fourof the nearest 10 rain gauges, all within a few miles of Boscastle, showed less than 3 mm of rain that day. Thecause of the very heavy localised rain is thought to be an extreme example of what has become known as theBrown Willy effect.

The torrential rain led to a 2 m (7 ft) rise in river levels in one hour. A 3 m (10 ft) wave, believed to have beentriggered by water pooling behind debris caught under a bridge and then being suddenly released as the bridgecollapsed, surged down the main road. Water speed was over 4 m/s (10 mph), more than enough to causestructural damage. It is estimated that 20,000,000 cubic meters of water flowed through Boscastle that dayalone. The steep valley sides and the saturated surface ensured a high amount of surface run-off.

4. What were the causes of the flood?

Warm air picking up moisture - due to residual heat from the Atlantic sea Changes in farming practice in the area Sewage A reduction of trees and hedges higher up the valley causing water to flow through more quickly

than would have been the case in the past However, an episode of Discovery Channel's Perfect Disaster states that the floods might have

been caused by a phenomenon called a "blocking high". A blocking high is a large area of statichigh pressure. It can happen anywhere in the world, and the effect is deadly because the highpressure can stall other weather systems around it.

Boscastle


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5. Try to find a rainfall gauge map of the rainfall that hit the area between 1100 and 1800on the day of the event?

On the graph, the red areas show the heaviest amount of rain fall which is situated overBoscastle

6. Find an image of the river Valency and river Jordan, why are these two rivers importantin identifying the causes of the flood?These 2 rivers are important in identifying the cause of the floods because both rivers meet a certain pointand where so much rain came down at once the rivers began to overfill, causing the water to gush throughonto the town of Boscastle.

7. Use the below link to access the timeline of what happened. Can you name as many of the emergency services that were deployed on that day as possible?http://www.floodwarn.co.uk/pdf/Boscastle_flood.pdf

Police, Fire brigade, Coast guard, RAF, Ambulance, Air Ambulance

Boscastle
http://www.floodwarn.co.uk/pdf/Boscastle_flood.pdfhttp://www.floodwarn.co.uk/pdf/Boscastle_flood.pdfhttp://www.floodwarn.co.uk/pdf/Boscastle_flood.pdf


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8. Fire-fighters from which stations were mobilized to Boscastle?The fire stations that attended Boscastle were: Delebole, Launceston, St Austell, Bodmin,Padstow, Truro Newquay, Camborne Penzance and Cornwall

9. Which fire service was the first to arrive on the scene at Boscastle?Delebole was the first Fire service and the first Emergency service to arrive at Boscastle.

10. What role did the police play in the event? How were they able to help?The roles of the police on the day were that they had to block all entrances into Boscastle only allowing carsto exit the scene. The Police were eventually given Gold Control leadership and took control of the actionsof the Public Services on the day. They then had to issue a safe point where survivors would go to afterbeing rescued, what to do with at the cars that were being washed away, where the fire brigade and RAFhelicopters search first etc.

11. RAF helicopters were scrambled from which bases?RAF Chivenor, RNAF Culdrose, RAF Kinloss, St Morgan, Truro, Plymouth and Portland

12. What role did these helicopters play?The RAF helicopters were deemed as the most important Public Service on the day as they winched over 150people from their homes and rooftops. They had to pick up the stranded civilians and extract them to a safeplace where they could meet up with family members Without the success of the RAF helicopters, therecould have been some fatal casualties at Boscastle on the day of the floods.

13. At 2100 hours fire relief crews from nearby stations were scrambled, what does thismean?

14. During the rescue operation 6 fire fighters had to be airlifted, why do you think this was?

I think that the Fire Fighters had to be air lifted because they went into a building or a shop, risking theirlives to save stranded civilians. Also, I think that they underestimated how severe the floods were andmaybe they didnt think that it would be a tough as it turned out to be

15. Life boats were scrambled from nearby Lifeguard stations why was this?Because the water was too deep for anyone to get into houses so the life boats could sail across the waterand gain access to peoples homes, businesses etc. to save them. Also cars were getting washed away by thefloods into the Harbour, causing damage to properties and other vehicles along the way. Therefore the Seamen on the Lifeboats had to smash the windows of the cars so that the sank and couldnt cause any moredamage and wasnt blocking any paths in which could preve nt the Public Services from rescuing someone.

16. Devon and Cornwalls constabulary identified the incident as Major and Gold controlwas open. What does this mean?This means that the police force took leadership and control over the incident and became Gold control. They are now authorised to command all of the public services and allocate each public service a role in therescues. All of the other public service are known as silver control.

17. What Jobs did the fire fighters do on this day and after the event in the clean upoperation?The Fire Fighters rescued approximately 42 people from their homes during the floods. Their job was toenter the homes and search for survivors before putting them on life boats or onto the RAF helicopters.After the floods, fire fighters then helped to rebuild the village so that it had flood defences, such as building

culverts under the bridges, flood gates and raising the river banks.


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18. Watch the video link below. What do you think flash flooding means?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrb0Ea0OkKUI think that flash flooding means that heavy rain comes down on a certain area in a short period of time. Therain is so heavy and fast that rivers are quickly overfilled and the water begins to flow else where. Thesefloods are virtually unstoppable as there is too much water for rivers or defence systems to control.

19. How many casualties were there in the incident?There were no fatal casualties; however people may have gained minor bruising and cutswhilst trying to escape. Also the survivors needed counselling after the floods due toshock.

20. How many homes were flooded?Approximately 100 homes and businesses were flooded or damaged by flood water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrb0Ea0OkKUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrb0Ea0OkKU

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