What made shrewsbury flood?

Answer 1

The causes of the floods in the Severn Valley in 1998 can be split into two sections: human and physical causes. The human causes of the floods were summed up by the then Shadow Countryside Minister Tim Yeo MP, he said 'the flooding had increased because of the housing developments on Greenfield sites.' By this he means that by concreting over the land humans have increased the rate of surface runoff and decreased the saturation levels of the ground. When surface runoff is high rainwater reaches the river faster. It would appear that the speed in which the water reached the river was too fast for the river to handle. The river filled up reaching bank-full discharge and then overflowing its banks onto the flood plain. The flood plain of the River Severn is built on, therefore, when the river floods it floods onto residential areas. With the building of these urban areas the amount of vegetation in the area surrounding the river was reduced, this affects the river two ways. It reduces the amount of interception, which in turn increases the speed of runoff into the river. The lack of vegetation also leads to the saturation of the ground. During the months of October and November the rainfall in the Severn Valley was high, as the water soaked into the ground it became saturated. More vegetation in the area would have meant the vegetation using the water would have decreased the amount of water in ground storage. Physical factors of the flood in 1998 are many; however, the most important one was the amount of rainfall. In October 1998 many areas received record amounts of rainfall caused by a 'hurricane'. This 'hurricane' brought very heavy rain and strong winds. The fact the rain was heavy means that the river did not have time to dissipate the water quick enough and the runoff was too fast, making the river rise t such an extent that it flooded. The area of the river upstream was worst effected, the area drown stream was not so badly effected because the river widens down stream. The saturation of the ground meant that any precipitation after the ground began saturated just added to the floodwaters. Other physical factors include the flat and low-lying nature of the landscape surrounding the Severn. This meant that as the water breached the banks it just spread across the land:

Number of Affected Homesteads - 9,80,571 9. Number of Death - 918 10. Cattle heads killed - 26,564 11. Road Damaged (km)- 15,927 12. Embankment Damaged (km)- 4,528 13. Number of Damaged Bridge /Culverts- 6,890 14. Number of Educational Institutions - 1,718 15. Number of Flood Shelter - 2,716 16. Number of People take refuge - 10,49,525 Bangladesh - Floods OCHA Situation Report The Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief as of 15 September 1998 provided the following update on flood damage: Districts Affected: 52 Thanas affected: 366 Persons affected: 30.6 million Total dead: 783 Crops damaged: 1,497,500 (acres) Houses damaged: 894,015 Roads damaged: 15,900 (km) Embankment damaged: 4,451 (km) Shelters: 2,661 Sheltered people: 1 million