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The Bocastle Floods - Extra Case Study
The Bocastle Floods - Extra Case Study
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Geo file 494
Alison Rae
Boscastle in the news reused, as it was vulnerable flood plain, Boscastle has a mixture of residential
so best avoided. The river was diverted and local service functions, alongside
‘In just over five hours, Boscastle went
and various flood defences put in an important tourist industry, earning
from a pretty Cornish tourist attraction
place, but, basically, the village was income for the local community.
to a disaster zone.’
fully restored and looked much as it
Daily Telegraph, Wednesday, 18 August, 2004 had prior to the flood. It is true that Prior to 16 August, the village had not
some individuals and families may been flooded in living memory. Events
The whole UK population knew of the never have fully recovered from the such as the Lynmouth flood took place
Boscastle flood event almost as soon as Lynmouth event, as 34 people did lose much further up the coast, and so may
it had happened. It was widely their lives and, back in the 1950s, it is not have been seen as significant. Few
reported on television and radio, in likely that fewer homes and businesses flood prevention measures had been
newspapers and on the internet. It is would have been insured than is the taken.
interesting for the geographer to study case today. Boscastle, too, will be
news coverage of natural hazards. The restored, with some essential The physical factors
media do not approach these topics adjustments, largely within a few
quite as geographers do. In their months of the flood event itself. Severe flooding is the result of a
attempts to explain the reasons behind certain set of circumstances. The table
the flood to the lay person, they select overleaf compares the circumstances of
a limited number of the factors
The settlement of Boscastle these two events, Lynmouth 1952 and
involved, so the whole picture may be Boscastle is a small village on the Boscastle 2004. The physical
by no means clear. Any mention of north Cornish coast (Figure 1). Lying similarities are striking.
rock type, the previously wetter than at the mouth of the River Valency, it is
average summer, and the combination surrounded by fairly steep, often Key physical factors promoting flash
of these to create overland flow, was wooded slopes. Just upstream from the flooding are:
almost impossible to find in the village two steep-sided valleys meet, • impermeable rock
Boscastle coverage. Human interest those of the Valency and the Jordan. A • small basin
stories, rather than geographical detail, third stream, the Paradise, also flows • round basin
sell papers, so emphasis is placed on through the village. On 16 August • steep relief
damage to homes plus dramatic 2004 all three burst their banks, almost • lack of vegetation
rescues and evacuations, of which simultaneously. • ground already saturated from
there were several in August 2004. previous rainfall
Even if you have never visited • storm downpours.
There is also a certain amount of Boscastle, you may have seen the
exaggeration in the press, e.g. ‘the village on television if you watched the Impermeable rock does not let water
village of Boscastle will never be the ‘Doc Martin’ series broadcast in the drain through it. However, more
same again’. Yet, if we look at summer of 2004. Some of the filming permeable sandstones (Keuper Marl
Lynmouth, it was all rebuilt. was completed there prior to the flood and Bunter Sandstone) underlie
Differences in Lynmouth ‘before’ and event. Exmoor, the northern half of which is
‘after’ included some land not being drained by the Rivers East and West
Table: Comparison of factors in 1952 and 2004 floodings Figure 2: Cars swept away in the flood
Figure 4: Key moments in the rescue operation Others tried to bail the water out, but
afterwards many found their homes
Time: Event: and belongings covered in sludge.
15:46 Call from cliff rescue team regarding rapid river level rise
Concern for people around the harbour
The fact that so many holidaymakers
and daytrippers were involved made
15:51 Call to police from Boscastle resident to report floods beginning
accounting for everyone extremely
16:02 Roads blocked and some areas cut off difficult. Some visitors had not told
Coastguards seriously concerned anyone where they were going to be for
Other emergency services requested the day. Imagine going out for a drive
16:03 RAF coordination centre put on standby and just deciding what you want to do
16:05 2 people trapped in a car at Boscastle harbour (police report) during the trip – very natural. Several
Several people trapped (fire service report) people’s whereabouts were therefore
16:17 Port Isaac inshore lifeboat launched not at all clear. Some were thought to
16:20 Report of footbridge washed away be involved, but then turned up
2 people trapped in café elsewhere. After the event, the
16:22 Rescue helicopters scrambled
emergency services were amazed there
had been no deaths or serious injuries.
16:30 Roads into Boscastle closed (A39 & A395)
16:35 Bude inshore lifeboat launched One holidaymaker’s story is typical:
16:36 Air ambulance standing by to receive casualties
16:52 Flooding now reported as severe ‘We were going up the street, trying to
17:16 ‘Major incident’ message sent get back to the car park from the
17:18 3 more rescue helicopters scrambled
bottom of the village. The water came
up very very quickly. At first it was just
17:23 Coastguard declares major incident
a couple of inches, then we were up to
Winching operations began our knees. The wall of the car park
17:55 Incident important enough to be placed under the control of an went and we shot into a house and up
Assistant Chief Constable the stairs. We were stuck there for a
Boscastle football pitch becomes drop zone for helicopters while, then we climbed out of the attic
Hospitals in Truro and Plymouth go on standby for casualties window … and were airlifted off by the
18:00 15 people already rescued RAF.’
One further helicopter scrambled from Portland Naval Base The Daily Telegraph, 17 August, 2004
18:00–21:00 Constant use of all helicopters in rescue work
21:00 Helicopters begin to return to their bases Boscastle village was not the only
Cliff rescue and inshore lifeboat services continue the search for location affected. Several neighbouring
casualties settlements and roads were also in
trouble. The local MP, Paul Tyler, was
trapped in his car for a while, five
• the Shute family, comprising a 15- making it much more difficult and miles away up the A39. The roads were
month-old girl trapped with her demanding. heavy with traffic, caused by people
parents inside and then on the realising that this was not the safest
roof of their vehicle at risk of At 3.46 p.m. in the afternoon of 16 place to be. At Camelford, several miles
being washed away. This August a member of Boscastle’s cliff further south and in the much larger
happened seven miles from the rescue team reported that river levels basin of the River Camel, sandbagging
main village site. The child was had risen by 7 feet (2.15 m) in one of houses close to the river began as a
winched into the helicopter in a hour. Within another hour and a half precautionary measure. The river was
rucksack; the true severity of the event had been flowing at bankfull. On the following
• a neighbour of the Shute family, recognised as a helicopter pilot day, 17 August, the Environment
John Statton, a farmer, swept reported to the emergency centre at Agency put out serious flood warnings
along for almost 20 m before RAF Kinloss (NE Scotland), ‘This is a for other settlements further north up
managing to cling on to a tree; major incident … We require all the the Devon coast. Bude experienced
• several young children waiting to standby aircraft available. We are in almost 2 metres of floodwater.
be rescued on the roof of a house danger of losing the people in the
against which several cars and houses.’ Helicopters worked for three
trees were wedged, putting it hours, rescuing the 120 in need from
Damage sustained
under dangerous pressure. It rooftops and trees. Figure 4 shows how Figure 5 shows the parts of the village
could have given way at any the operation unfolded. that flooded. Residents were all
moment, but fortunately the compulsorily evacuated on Monday,
children were rescued; During these events, coastguard teams 16 August. Two days later, building
• a woman who had severed her watched the harbour in the hope of engineers began work to assess the
thumb, and a man having a heart spotting anyone being washed in. safety of all buildings. From that
attack About 1,000 residents and tourists time, residents discovered whether
were affected in total. The shops along they could re-enter their homes and
Figure 3 shows the locations of the harbour took the worst damage. what the likely prognosis was in terms
buildings from which people had to Both householders and shop owners of whether or not structures were
be rescued. There was heavy rain and used sandbags where possible to try to repairable. Figure 3 shows the
lightning throughout the operation, keep the water out, with mixed success. locations of the main buildings
R.
or casualties. Items such as trees,
Jor
fridge freezers and boilers were found,
da
n
some as far as 10 miles (16 km) out to B3263 to B3266
sea! Hundreds of possessions were Tintagel
Key
lost.
Built up area of Boscastle village
0 1 km Main (B) roads through village
‘Cars washed away, homes and shops
Area affected by flash flood
devastated and dozens rescued as
Cornish resort is engulfed by flood Adapted from Daily Telegraph, 17 August 2004
torrent.’
Front page headline,
Daily Mail, Tuesday, 17 August, 2004 Conclusion
In terms of physical causes, the
Despite this, the basic clean-up Boscastle flood was a remarkably
operation was completed within a few similar event to the 1952 Lynmouth
days because a large number of men flood, but on a smaller scale.
and machines were committed to the Amazingly, no one was killed or even
task. From Wednesday, 18 August, severely injured in the more recent
diggers and other machines were out event, which makes the Boscastle
clearing the streets of uprooted trees, flood very different to the Lynmouth
cars and other debris, despite the one from the human point of view.
continued poor weather which
hampered the work. This effort was Chance is very much a factor here –
encouraged by the usual visits from just because we have superior
public figures. John Prescott (Deputy technology today does not mean that
Prime Minister) and Prince Charles people will not be placed in situations
(Duke of Cornwall) visited the scene beyond their control. Factors which
of devastation on the 17th and 18th probably did make a difference in
respectively, followed by the press as 2004 are:
they did so. The county council
estimated the damage to bridges, • more emergency services
ditches and other small-scale available;
infrastructure would cost a minimum • speed of communication to
of £250,000 to rectify. Damage to emergency services quicker;
buildings and businesses was • time of day – the Lynmouth flood
estimated at several millions of occurred at night, Boscastle in the
pounds. afternoon, so people were more
aware and therefore more able to
get out of the way.
Focus Questions
1. Construct a labelled hydrograph diagram to show the likely pattern of
events during the Boscastle flood.
2. This flood event was largely the product of physical factors, rather than of
human ones. Choose another flood event you have studied, one which
occurred in a much more urbanised basin. Compare and contrast the factors
leading to the two events.
3. What are the differences in the clean-up operation and in people’s losses in
MEDC floods compared with those in LEDCs?