Case Study – Boscastle Floods

Floods devastate village.

On 16 August 2004, a devastating flood swept through the small Cornish village of Boscastle.

Very heavy rain fell in storms close to the village, causing two rivers to burst their banks. About two billion litres of water then rushed down the valley straight into Boscastle.

Residents had little time to react. Cars were swept out to sea, buildings were badly damaged and people had to act quickly to survive. Fortunately, nobody died – thanks largely to a huge rescue operation involving helicopters — but there was millions of pounds worth of damage.

Physical Impacts

Responses to the flooding, what happened to cause this event.

Flooding On the day of the flood, about 75mm of rain fell in two hours — the same amount that normally falls in the whole of August. Huge amounts of water from this sudden downpour flowed into two rivers, the Valency and Jordan (which flows into the Valency just above Boscastle). Both overflowed, and this caused a sudden rush of water to speed down the Valency — which runs through the middle of Boscastle.

Destruction of houses, businesses and gardens Floodwater gushed into houses, shops and pubs. Cars, walls and even bridges were washed away. The church was filled with six feet of mud and water. Trees were uprooted and swept into peoples’ gardens. The weight of water eroded river banks, damaged gardens and pavements.

Human Impacts There was a huge financial cost to the floods. This included:

  • the rescue operation – involving helicopters, lifeboats, and the fire service.
  • the loss of 50 cars
  • damage to homes, businesses and land
  • a loss of tourism, a major source of income for the area

The flooding also had several other key impacts on Boscastle and its inhabitants. These included:

  • environmental damage to local wildlife habitats
  • coastal pollution caused as debris and fuel from cars flowed out to sea.
  • long-term disruption to the village, as a major rebuild project had to be carried out.
  • long-term stress and anxiety to people traumatised by the incident.
  • John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Prince Charles visited members of the emergency services and the local GP surgery, which acted as the emergency centre, in the days following the disaster.
  • Prince Charles, who is the Duke of Cornwall, made a large donation to a fund to help rebuild parts of Boscastle.
  • The Environment Agency is responsible for warning people about floods and reducing the likelihood of future floods. The Environment Agency has carried a major project to increase flood defences in Boscastle, with the aim of preventing a similar flood happening again.
  • We are investing in new ways of predicting heavy rainfall events on a small scale to produce better warnings.

In Pictures

boscastle flooding

Weather chart

Radar imagery

Fig 2. Rainfall Radar

Fig. 2 shows radar pictures at 12 p.m. (midday)  on 16 August.

The rainfall rate key shows how the colours in the image relate to the rate the rainfall is falling. For example, the red areas indicate that rain is falling at between eight and 16 mm per hour.

A line of very heavy rain starts at about 1 p.m. on the moors close to Boscastle. It remains over the area for about six hours. Rainfall rates of at least 32 mm per hour are being measured.

There is more about  rainfall radar  in the weather section of the Met Office website.

Satellite imagery Fig. 3 shows an animation of satellite pictures from 12 p.m. (midday) to 7 p.m. on 16 August.

Fig. 3: Satellite image

The thickest cloud is shown by the brightest white areas on the picture. The pictures show cloud forming over Boscastle at about 1 p.m. and staying there for much of the afternoon.

Further information on other websites BBC News website covering the Boscastle flooding BBC News article – Boscastle one year on

Boscastle 16 August 2004 the day of the flood , 2006, Galvin, 61, 29

Web page reproduced with the kind permission of  the Met Office

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boscastle flood case study pdf

Flood Management Scheme – Boscastle

A flood management scheme following the 2004 floods.

Why the Boscastle flood scheme required?

On the 16th August 2004, a devastating flood swept through Boscastle, a small village on the north Cornwall coast.

Very heavy rain fell in storms close to the village, with over 60mm of rainfall in two hours. The ground was already saturated due to above average rainfall during the previous two weeks. Combined with this the drainage basin has many steep slopes and there are areas of impermeable slate that led to rapid run-off. Boscastle is at the confluence (where tributaries meet) of three rivers – Valency, Jordan, and Paradise. About two billion litres of water then rushed down the valley straight into Boscastle within a short space of time causing the rivers to overflow. Additionally, the deluge of water coincided with a high tide.

As the flood happened so quickly local residents had little time to react. Cars were swept out to sea and buildings were badly damaged. Thankfully, no one lost their lives, which is largely due to a huge rescue operation involving helicopters. Million of pounds worth of damage was caused by the flood.

What was the management strategy?

In 2008 a flood management scheme for Boscastle was completed. The solution included both soft and hard engineering strategies.

The Environment Agency has made a considerable investment in flood defences in Boscastle to help prevent a similar flood happening in the future. Working with professional partners, more than £10 million of improvements were carried out. This included widening and deepening the Valency River, and installing a flood culvert to improve flow in the Jordan River.

River Valency Flood Management Scheme

River Valency Flood Management Scheme

The Met Office and Environment Agency have formed the first of several working partnerships, the Flood Forecasting Centre. Combining expertise in weather forecasting and hydrology has helped to prepare communities for flooding during times of extreme weather.

At the time of the floods, the operational forecast model had a resolution of 12 km, which was too large to be able to represent such a small scale collection of thunderstorms. Since 2004 the Boscastle case was re-run with a higher resolution research model which proved able to resolve the line of thunderstorms with much more accuracy and detail.

What are the social, economic and environmental issues?

Social issues.

The rebuilding projects and construction of flood defences took several years which meant the lives of local people were disrupted for sometime. The risk of flooding has been reduced making Boscastle safer. The defences would not protect against a flood the same size as the one in 2004. The new bridge is not popular with local people as it is out of character compared to the rest of the building.

Economic issues

The risk of flooding has been reduced. Therefore, there is less risk of damage to property and businesses. The flood-defence scheme cost over £4 million. However, the scheme could have been significantly better, though some options were too expensive.

Environmental issues

Biodiversity has improved as have the river habitats. Vegetation in the area is now managed.

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The Boscastle flood of 2004 – A case study of cause, effect and response

The Boscastle flood of 2004 – A case study of cause, effect and response

Using the Teachit Geography template, this sorting exercise provides a framework for investigating cause of, effect of and response to the 2004 Boscastle flood.

Extract from the resource: 

The flood on 16 August 2004 in Boscastle in Cornwall was the worst in local memory and an Environment Agency report concluded that it was among the most extreme ever experienced in Britain.

There was a combination of human and physical causes contributing to a series of effects and impacts.  The responses to the flood were both short and long term. Sort statements to show these causes, effects and responses, e.g. loss of businesses, water gauging stations were installed, Boscastle is at the confluence of three rivers, etc.

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Boscastle 2004 Case Study Lesson - a river in flood (KS4 Physical Landscapes in the UK)

Boscastle 2004 Case Study Lesson - a river in flood (KS4 Physical Landscapes in the UK)

Subject: Geography

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Teaching Geography

Last updated

8 August 2020

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pptx, 1.62 MB

This thorough 2-hour lesson covers the causes of the Boscastle floods, the impacts, and the remaining issues. A range of activities include card sorting, answering short knowledge recall questions, and carrying out a 9-marker decision making exercise on how further money should be spent in the village. All activities and worksheets are included within the ppt.

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  2. Case study: Boscastle

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COMMENTS

  1. Boscastle Case Study GCSE

    January 26, 2021 Boscastle Harbour Impacts Boscastle was completely unprepared for the flood that it was hit by in 2004. Homes and Business were destroyed, and hundreds of vehicles were swept away as bridges and roads were damaged.

  2. Royal Meteorological Society Case Study

    Print Floods Devastate Village On 16 August 2004, a devastating flood swept through the small Cornish village of Boscastle. Very heavy rain fell in storms close to the village, causing two rivers to burst their banks. About two billion litres of water then rushed down the valley straight into Boscastle. Residents had little time to react.

  3. 2004 Boscastle flood

    Coordinates: 50.69044°N 4.69505°W Looking upstream from the bridge after the flood The 2004 Boscastle flood ( Cornish: An Lanwes Kastel Boterel 2004) occurred on Monday, 16 August 2004 in the two villages of Boscastle and Crackington Haven [1] in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.

  4. Boscastle Floods

    There was a huge financial cost to the floods. This included: the rescue operation - involving helicopters, lifeboats, and the fire service. the loss of 50 cars. damage to homes, businesses and land. a loss of tourism, a major source of income for the area. The flooding also had several other key impacts on Boscastle and its inhabitants.

  5. PDF The floods in Boscastle and North Cornwall 16 August 2004

    The floods in Boscastle and North Cornwall 16 August 2004 We are the Environment Agency. It's our job to look after your environment and make it a better place - foryou, and for future generations. Your environment is the airyou breathe, the wateryou drink and the ground you walk on.

  6. PDF The Boscastle flood of 2004 A case study of cause, effect and response

    The Boscastle flood of 2004 - A case study of cause, effect and response ... Students could be asked to construct a mind map for this case study. 3. Students could be asked to investigate the more recent 2007 flood in Boscastle. Author: Teachit \(UK\) Ltd Created Date:

  7. PDF Case Studies, Boscastle and Barèges.

    Possessions lost . Damage to ground floors of properties by sewerage. Repairs had to be made. Time consuming and some properties beyond repair. Big pay outs by insurance companies resulting in higher premiums for Boscastle residents. Damage to tourist industry with loss of attractions like witchcraft museum.

  8. Flood Management Scheme

    Social issues The rebuilding projects and construction of flood defences took several years which meant the lives of local people were disrupted for sometime. The risk of flooding has been reduced making Boscastle safer. The defences would not protect against a flood the same size as the one in 2004.

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    On 16 August 2004, exceptionally intense and prolonged storm conditions centred over the North Cornwall coast and the headwaters of Bodmin Moor generated extreme flooding in and above the coastal villages of Boscastle and Crackington Haven. The event - which wreaked havoc and damage, but led to no direct loss of life - captured considerable media attention.

  11. PDF Geofile Online APRIL 2005 494

    case today. Boscastle, too, will be restored, with some essential adjustments, largely within a few months of the flood event itself. The settlement of Boscastle Boscastle is a small village on the north Cornish coast (Figure 1). Lying at the mouth of the River Valency, it is surrounded by fairly steep, often wooded slopes. Just upstream from the

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  14. PDF Date

    Extra notes for teachers supporting teaching of the Boscastle case study The Boscastle flood carries an important lesson - human societies should expect that unexpected things will sometimes happen. Rounding off teaching of this first part of the Unit, encourage students to think about reasons why, as a society, we can't always

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    On the 16 th of August 2004 the village Boscastle got flooded, the last major flood they experienced like this was in 1996. It rained so much that 2 rivers burst their banks. Two billion litters of water rushed down the valley. PHYSICAL AND HUMAN CAUSES There were many causes to why this flood happened, physical and human causes.

  20. Case Study: Flood Management in Boscastle, Cornwall

    GCSE Geography Physical Landscapes in the UK Case Study: Flood Management in Boscastle, Cornwall. In August 2004, the village of Boscastle in Cornwall experienced a devastating flash flood due to an intense downpour that lasted for several hours. This unfortunate event highlighted the importance of implementing effective flood management ...

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    Delve into the captivating case study of the Boscastle floods in Cornwall 2004 with our comprehensive 2-lesson series designed for GCSE geography. Unravel the causes, effects, and responses to this infamous extreme weather event that left an indelible mark on the landscape and serves as a key case study in the curriculum. Key Features: Map ...

  22. Boscastle 2004 Case Study Lesson

    This thorough 2-hour lesson covers the causes of the Boscastle floods, the impacts, and the remaining issues. A range of activities include card sorting, answering short knowledge recall questions, and carrying out a 9-marker decision making exercise on how further money should be spent in the village.

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