Storm Desmond 2015

• What made desmond so bad

  • Weather
  • Saturated ground conditions
  • Rock type
  • River network / tributaries
  • Urbanisation
  • Relief
• Weather


  348 mm of rain in 24 hours, this led to rivers overflowing and mass flooding
• Saturated ground conditions

  • Following a wet autumn, heavy rain fell on already saturated ground
  • This means water couldn't be absorbed by ground so flooding was worse
• Rock type


  Rock types in the area are : slate, limestone and granite

  Impermeable rock!!

  Leads to more flooding because water cannot be drained away as the water can't be absorbed
• River networks and tributaries


  Cockermouth is small town which lies on the confluence between 2 rivers which creates the 'bottleneck' effect

  Instead of just having to deal with one river's water you have to deal with two
• Urbanisation

  • Homes and buisnesses have been built on the floodplain
  • Tarmac makes ground impermeable
  • This means water cannot be absorbed by grass so water level increases
  • Tarmac doesn't absorb water
  • Many people previously built on floodplains because the ground is flat!
• Relief


  Because of steep hilled slopes, rainwater flows into rivers quickly, as water moves faster on permeable saturated steep land there would be more flooding
• Dredging silt from the river

  Removal of sediment at the bottom of the river making it deeper and able to hold more water so less likely to flood