Boscastle Flood

Basic Facts Miraculous miracles Disastrous Damage Perfect Prevention Bibliography Ending

Basic Facts • • •

Date: Monday 16th August 2004 Peak of downpour: 3:45pm Location: Two villages Boscastle and Crackington Haven in Cornwall

The Boscastle Flood was a flood which occurred within the two villages Boscastle and Crackington Haven. The flood was caused by a huge downpour of rain. In Boscastle itself, 89mm of rain was recorded within an hour. The rain fell for approximately five hours. This huge amount of rain caused river levels to rise by 2m within one hour. This was because the ground was dried up, so the water did not soak in. Instead, it rolled off the ground and into the river. Also, Boscastle is in the middle of a v-shaped valley, and at the time of the flood the tide was high.

Miraculous Miracles •

• •

• •

75 cars, 5 caravans, 6 buildings and several boats were washed away into the sea. 100 homes and businesses were destroyed. Seven helicopters saved 150 people clinging to trees, roofs and cars. Amazingly, no one received any major injuries or died. The flood was so strong that man made precautions could not stop it.

Disastrous Damage Much damage was caused by the Boscastle flood. Many great and important buildings were destroyed by it, including the museum of Witchcraft. All the buildings and areas of Boscastle that were destroyed are estimated to have added up to millions of pounds. The entire town of Boscastle was devastated by a wall of water that was 10 feet high, flowing at the speed of 40 miles an hour. Boscastle was quickly back up and running within a single year, as though it had never happened. However, there is still visible evidence that the flood did happen, like on of the worst hit harbours. Rubble is also pilled up on spare space near the river. However, none of these sights seem to stop the huge amounts of tourists visiting. The whole of Boscastle is extremely popular. The government helped out with the restoration, donating £447,000 to the North Cornwall District Council.

Perfect Prevention These are a few of the ways that another flood in Boscastle can be prevented from happening again: • More defences can be, and were, put up. This worked in the mini flood that happened in Boscastle during in 2007. • Slow the water down so that there will be small rivers flowing down each street, but making sure it’s not powerful enough to wash any houses away. • Put lots of soil and holes around the town, so that the water is either soaked up or trapped in very deep holes.

Bibliography Here is a list of all the sites from which all the information and pictures in this presentation came from: • • • • • • • • •

wikipedia.org old-coach.co.uk metoffice.gov.uk stivoschool.org swenvo.org.uk viewimages.com telegraph.co.uk bbc.co.uk guardian.co.uk