Why?
The flood occurred due to a certain set of circumstances including physical and human factors.
Physical factors
The village has steep valley sides resulting in lots of surface run-off and it also lays at the confluence of the river Jordan and river Valency. The summer of 2004 had been an unusually wet summer therefore by August the ground was saturated. On the 16th August rain clouds formed above the north of Cornwall and didn’t move because of covering winds. In the afternoon an unpredicted amount of rainfall, roughly over 1.400 million litres in only 2 hours. Nearly 200,000 litres per second! This rainfall quickly got into the three rivers, which run through the village of Boscastle, and rose at an alarming rate.
Human factors
The river Jordan passes through an underground culvert (tunnel).
The village was built on a floodplain.
Bridges were built over the river
Cleaning vegetation from valley.
The effects
Short term
3 houses destroyed.
150 people airlifted to safety.
25 businesses damaged.
60 cars swept out to sea.
Sewage pipes burst.
Electricity and water supply cut off.
Roads, bridges and car park destroyed.
80 buildings damaged.
Long term
£25 million lost business income.
20 bed and breakfast closed.
Residents homeless.
Rebuilding homes took 6 months.
Insurance premiums increased.
Risk of combination from sewage.
Jobs lost.