by Gabriella Goodridge –
Flooding severely impacts human populations, accounting for an estimated 157,000 deaths and combined loss of 1891 billion US$ worldwide from 1994-2015 [1]. Floods may also indirectly result in other disasters from small-scale landslides to large scale events like nuclear meltdowns.
Figure 1: Flooding aftermath – broken walls at Southwaite Bridge. Image: Morebyless, CC BY 2.0 [3]
The 2009 Cockermouth floods occurred on quite a large scale, affecting ~700 residential properties and 225 businesses (80% of businesses in the town). A flood risk journal surveyed a number of businesses, 75% of which were flooded and a further 17% of which weren’t, however claimed they had experienced indirect impacts. [4]
The table below analyses the importance of primary and secondary effects on businesses:
Overall, from this data we can see the vast amount of impacts on businesses. Primary (short-term) impacts included travel difficulties, spoiling/damage of products and loss of electricity. Secondary (long-term) impacts included an increase in insurance costs and loss of trade down the line.
Looking at this data, the secondary effects are more likely to be the “indirect effects” faced by the 17% of businesses mentioned before. The original paper notes that visitors were deterred from travelling here due to the belief that it was “inaccessible”. [4]
Figure 2: “Rankings of impacts according to relative importance index (RII) values”. [4]
One woman who was interviewed by the BBC claimed that not only was she “stranded on the first floor of her home” but also that she was pondering “am I going to survive or not?” [5]. This implies that as well as community spirit and business being degraded by the aforementioned economic impacts, there may also be some form of trauma in individuals from these floods.
Finally, environmental impacts result from flooding. This may include pollution as sewage and chemicals are washed into the water, contaminating it [6]. Also, the river may get eroded more quickly if it bursts its banks resulting in potential habitat destruction and more debris downstream [6]. Judging by the nature of the 2009 flood we can assume that the surrounding area would have experienced these described impacts.
In conclusion floods vary at a range of scales and impacts. The 2009 Cockermouth floods describe how not all floods are necessarily deadly but still can have detrimental effects on people, business and the environment. Hence, we must do our best to not only prevent flooding in the first place but also to have suitable measures in place to aid business and victims if one occurs.
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References
- Williams, M. (2017), 3 billion people affected by flooding disasters in 20 years. Channel 4 News. Viewed 21/11/2020 https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/2-3-billion-people-affected-by-flooding-disasters-in-20-years#:~:text=Flooding%20has%20accounted%20for%20nearly
- McCall, I. et al. (2016), Cockermouth S.19 Flood Investigation Report. Cumbria County Council, page 8.
- Morebyless, CC BY 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Southwaite_Mill_Bridge_Cockermouth_November_2009.jpg
- Wedawatta, G. et al. (2012). Small businesses and flood impacts: the case of the 2009 flood event in Cockermouth. Journal of Flood Risk Management Volume 7, Issue 1. Blackwell Publishing Ltd and The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), pages 42–53.
- (2013), Cockermouth floods: How community coped with 2009 devastation. BBC News. Viewed 22/11/2020 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-22772151
- (N.D), Impact of flooding. BBC Bitesize. Viewed 29/11/2020 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/ztb78mn/revision/3
