2. The Boscastle flood of 2004 occurred on Monday, 16 August 2004. 3.

The two villages of Boscastle and Crackington Haven in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, and the villages suffered extensive damage after flash floods caused by an exceptional amount of rain that fell over eight hours that afternoon caused by an exceptional amount of rain that fell over eight hours that afternoon.

4. Abnormal Weather - On the days prior to the flood, the areas around Boscastle received an abnormal amount of rain. This caused the ground to be overly saturated. This saturated ground coupled with moist ocean winds and high local temperatures caused an abnormally large storm to come in off the ocean and poured 5 more inches of rain on the already saturated ground. This is more rain than the town gets in all of August. This extra amount of rain caused the banks of two nearby rivers that are usually tame to swell and overflow their banks. Location - The location of Boscastle in particular was a cause of the flooding. Boscastle lies in a steep ravine on the Valency River. The steep moors that surround the town, after the previous days' saturation, did little to stop rainwater from funneling into the Valency Valley. The steepness actually caused the water to accelerate downward into the valley below. This added volume to the narrow banks of the Valency, and the river spilled out into the surrounding town. Human Causes - It has been determined that humans did not play a major part in the flooding. The Valency River had never flooded on such a massive scale, so the people of Boscastle thought there was no reason to prepare for such an isolated and freak incident. In hindsight, there were a few steps that could have been taken to prevent the extent of the damage that occurred. The Valency lacks any flood prevention system like raised banks to slow overflow. The sewer and drainage systems in Boscastle are antiquated and could only handle a small capacity. The sudden added volume destroyed this system, and it was of little effect. Also, structures that span the river, such as

bridges, became clogged with debris and, even cars. The rainwater went up and around these bridges, flooding the town sooner than necessary. 5. The peak flow was about 140 m/s, between 5:00pm and 6:00pm BST. On the day of the flood, about 75mm of rain fell in two hours - the same amount that normally falls in the whole of August. 6. There have been 6 previous floods in Boscastle, None of them have been to the scale of the 2004 floods. 7. Fire Service, Cliff Rescue Team, Coastguard, RAF, Police, Ambulance all of these public services were deployed to help the villages of Boscastle. 8. Cornwall County Fire brigade, Turo, Lanceston, St.Austell, Bodmin, Padstow were the fire services called to Boscastle. 9. The first to arrive on the scene was Cornwall County Fire Brigade. 10. The Police were able to block all the roads off which were leading into Boscastle, the police also deployed dog units to search for people later in the day who had not yet been rescued. 11. RAF helicopters from Chivenor, Culdrose and St Mawgan were scrambled to assist in Boscastle. 12. The helicopters were able to report to other emergency services what the situation was, were the flooding was at its worse, if they could see people. The helicopters were also able to air lifted people to safety. 13. First Fire Brigade relief crews mobilised to Boscastle from St.Ives, St.Austell, Newquay, Camborne and Penzance. They were deployed to search vehicles, houses etc., to search for anymore survivors. 14. The 6 fire fighters that had to be air lifted to safety was because they were trying to rescue people in homes, vehicles etc. and got trapped themselves. 15. They were scrambled from close by because they would get there quick and they knew the area quite well. 16. The fire fighters waded through water up to hip height in houses to rescue people, also getting people out of their vehicles. During this situation, 6 fire fighters had to be air lifted to safety after risking their own lives to save civilians. After this the fire services pumped the water from houses, shops etc, to get drain the water so people could start rebuilding or salvaging anything that the water didnt destroy. 17. Flash flood means where the flooded water and river meet, then the river banks burst and the water escapes onto land quickly, hence the term flash flood.

18. Not one human died, 8 people were treated for hyperthermia and broken bones. 7 helicopters rescued more than 150 people between them, including the 6 fire fighters. 19. Nearly 100 homes and business were destroyed. 5 caravans were also destroyed.