Using a case- study, assess the causes and consequences of coastal flooding. 15 marks
Coastal floods occur primarily due to physical causes. A depression can produce low pressure conditions which pull water particles up, giving to a rise in sea level. Similarly strong winds can occur due to change in meteorological conditions which can also rise the sea level. At this point the sea level is much higher than a normal spring tide, and this is called a storm surge. However many human causes, particularly the lack of preparation and costal defences, can lead to lead to any storm surge having a much larger impact on local communities near the coastline.
The North Sea storm surge occurred in 1953 and had a huge impact on many communities in places including Britain and the Netherlands. In the Netherlands 1,835 people were killed and 47,000 buildings damaged. While in Britain 307 people died but over 30,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes. This initial storm surge was inevitable. A deep Atlantic depression moved across Scotland, meaning the central pressure had dropped to 970 mb by the coast of Denmark. This reduction is pressure is responsible for the rise in the surface of the sea level by 0.5m. Strong winds also drove the waves ahead of the storm. This was combined with high spring tides when the Sun and Earth and Moon are all in line. So the result was 6m waves approaching both Britain and the Netherlands. Additionally Canvey (one of the areas most affected in Britain) is 1 metre below sea level. Whilst 50% of the land in the Netherlands is no higher than 1m above sea level. So physical geography dictates the storm would have the largest impact in these low lying areas.
However the human causes added to the impact of this storm. In most cases these could have been avoided the damage to homes, crops etc, could have been limited. Firstly in the Netherlands, communication was limited. Local radio stations were only on air during the day, so by the time the messages had come through from the larger stations about the impending waves, it was too late. Large amounts of flooding had occurred and many local radio stations already damaged so no further warnings could be given to local people. Also insufficient sea defences in both Britain and the Netherlands let to know defence against the incoming waves. However many argue that the technology needed to help predict these storms was not available until recently. For example, anemometers, which measure wind speeds could only accurately depict the direction of wind blowing in 1991, 38 years after the storm surge.
These physical and human causes led to huge disastrous consequences for Britain and the Netherlands. These consequences were economic, social and physical. In England 16000 acres of land were ruined and in the Netherlands thousands of hectares flooded. However the effect goes beyond the physical flooding of the land. This destroyed the livelihood of many farmers, as their animals would have drowned and crops been destroyed. This is a farmer’s only income, and would leave him with virtually no income. Additionally it would leave many local supermarkets and butchers with no supply of food, therefore leading to their demise. And these are just a few of the social and economic consequences of the flooding. In addition many homes were destroyed meaning families had to relocate somewhere else breaking up communities. And no compensation, as the damage to their houses would not have been covered by insurance companies. However without these consequences, it would not have led the response that has stopped flooding on this scale since. Which consisted of the building of the Delta Works (project of sea defence structures being built) in the Netherlands and the introduction of the Thames Barrier program in England designed to prevent flooding from large waves and storm surges.
So in conclusion, the physical causes were the most important for the coastal flooding as without a storm surge at the time of a spring tide, the waves would be nowhere near 6 metres high. However due to lack of sea defences and communication, the human causes exaggerated the consequences and the effect of the waves causing increasing flooding affecting many lives of the surrounding people. As with current completed projects such as the Thames Barrier and the Delta Works, such physical causes are controlled significantly better.