The reason for thinking this is that flooding causes much damage to property, and there will be large repair bill to cover the problems of disinfecting, and rebuilding in some cases.
- The cost of building effective flood defences within Worcester City would be too expensive to be completed.
I think the will be an issue because the only real 100% guaranteed to work solution would be a combination of dredging raising of banks, a pumping station, and some property would still have to be relocated.
- People feel that there is no solution to flooding within Worcester.
This would again be related to there being no real 100% solution, and that global warming is increasing water levels. Most people know the fact about global warming and that the river levels are raising.
- People believe that the Government and the Environment Agency should do more to be a help to them.
People would feel this as there is very little that the government could do affordably, there for they would do little to help prevent flooding. As there would be large charges made to the people of the city, this is why the people affected by the flooding would see it as the government are not doing much to help them as to achieve complete flood proofing the city would almost need reconstructing. When I was interviewing a member of “waff” I was told how even the sewers can overflow into gardens in flood, showing how much is affected by the flooding.
During my questionnaire I interviewed 19 people and the results are as follows:-
Question 1
What problems does the flood cause you?
Decrease in house value 1
Damage to property 8
Loss of income 6
Blocked roads 17
Insurance costs 4
Made homeless 2
Repair costs 4
Family upset 2
This shows that the greatest inconvenience caused by the flooding is that of blocked roads. Second to that the damage to properties caused by the flooding. Family upset was caused in a few places but their main concern was the damage to their property and that some houses may not be able to get any insurance coverage.
Question 2
What solutions do you think there are to the flooding problem?
Increase bank level 5
Dredge the river 2
Pumping station 2
Move the houses 2
Unsure 6
This shows that a great deal of people were unsure about solutions to the flooding problem. Two people suggested a pumping station, but they had no idea where the water would be pumped to. Five people suggested that the river bank level should be raised, but this would mean that the bank would have to be raised something in the region of two metres either side to hold the capacity of water away from the houses.
Question 3
Do you think that flooding is now a common event?
Yes 15
No 2
This shows that people living within the flood plain area think that flooding is now a common even and is becoming more frequent and that a very small minority think that the problem is happening less frequently.
Question 4
Do you think the Environment Agency do enough to help you?
Yes 5
No 14
The people who thought that the Government could do more to help thought that the main thing that could be done was to build a pumping station but, again, the water will find its way back in to the river and cause more flooding.
Question 5
What problems do you think may arise in the future for homes in the area?
House value depreciation 2
Loss of income 3
Damage to property 3
Can’t get any worse 4
Worried about property 5
Insurance will not pay 2
This shows that the majority of people are worried about future damage to their property. The second largest group felt that things could not get much worse than they currently are.
Question 6
Estimated age of questionnaire participant
18 – 30 2
31 – 64 6
65+ 5
Business 6
This shows that people in their middle age or businesses occupy the majority of the properties lining the river. This may be because they can afford the insurance more easily and are better prepared for the hassle which young people would not want and would avoid.
ANALYSIS
When carrying out the questionnaire several questions were asked, firstly; over the years there has been a general increase in flooding, many of the participants in the questionnaire consider flooding now to be a common event (83%). To determine what problem could arise from the flooding the participants were asked what problems they had experienced due to flooding, several said that they attained damage to their properties (18%), other that it caused a loss of income (13%), and by far the highest problem was the blockage of roads(39%).(NB; participants of the questionnaire were given the option to answer one or more of the options available on this question) In order to access the situation as a whole and then establish a sensible course of action it was needed to obtain knowledge of possible problems that could arise in the future, one problem could be the depreciation of house prices in a flood plain area (11%), worry’s for owners of possible damages to their proper (26%), but many felt that the situation could not get any worse (16%). Finally participants were given the opportunity to give suggestions to improve the flooding problem in the local area, some felt that an increase in the bank level would be successful (26%), secondly to dredge the river to decrease the amount of slit build up on the river bed (11%) but many were unsure about how to deal with such a large problem (43&) This proves that my hypotheses were correct and that people in the flood plain feel that there will be future flooding as shown by question three, where there were some worries about the future housing values and worries about damage to their property. The results also show that people think that the Environment Agency and the Government could do a lot more to help although, when asked, the majority were unsure about what they could do to help. Most of the suggestions were unfeasible and this also proves that my hypotheses are correct as there is no feasible and complete solution that can be applied to the area that would prevent any flooding. It may be useful for several ideas to be instigated.
There are wider implications to the problem of the roads being cut off other than just local residents being immobilised, and that is half the city becomes cut off, as the river divides St Johns from Worcester. Much of the people to the west of the river depend on Worcester. When the roads are flooded and the crossing on Hilton road is made inaccessible, all the traffic is forced through smaller villages such as Holt, this causes much traffic congestion in the area, and implications towards road safety for children. It affects many businesses as deliveries are delayed, and customers cannot get into Worcester so business is effected.
Possible Solutions
People suggested that dredging the river may be a solution to the problem, although this would have little affected on the large mass of flood water that occurs every year. Although this combined with the increased bank levels, a new method of this shown in one of the articles, could lessen the extent of flooding.
The increased levels of banks alone would me the water would still overflow the banks but at a lesser and state, but would also cause more water to flow downstream to Stourport, further increasing the extent of flooding in Stourport. A pumping station may have a good effect, but would again lead to further flooding in Stourport.
CONCLUSION
From the questionnaire that I carried out I have found that people living in the flood plain are worried about future flooding and would like to see that the Environment Agency are doing more. A group called WAAF has been set up (WAAF stands for Worcester Action Against Flooding) and they hold meetings about the flooding issue and try to raise the problem so as something is done about the flooding.
It is interesting to compare this case to that of the River Lynn as they are so alike and yet so different. This River has had engineers building special bridges designed to collapse when flooded to prevent tidal waves. With the River Severn the bridge would need to be permanent. The River Lynn has had the banks modified so that the water can escape on to the floodplains but, in Worcester, it is so built up that it would be impossible to do this.
This project shows that flooding is no simple matter and that there are many problems caused by it; whether it be to do with residents or with local businesses. This problem is not a problem centralised to Worcester as there are people in Gloucester, Stourport and Bewdley who all suffer the same flooding problems.
The River Lynn is a much smaller river than the Severn and, therefore, the flooding problem can be resolved relatively cheaply compared to the costs of sorting out the flooding situation on the Severn in Worcester.
EVALUATION
I feel that the questionnaire answered the problem set very well and that the only way it could have been improved is if many more people had been asked their views. This would have given a broader result. It may also show that the flooding situation causes problems for people who do not live anywhere near the river, as in diverted traffic from blocked roads. I now feel that I understand the flooding situation much more clearly and that this project was a success in proving the inconvenience caused by flooding.
Flooding: What People Think in Worcester
